


Past The Stars - Adashi

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff and Humor, M/M, Roommates, Shadam, adashi, canonverse, here to save your souls after s7 and 8, oh my god they were roommates, pre-kerberos, very light angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-25
Updated: 2019-06-07
Packaged: 2019-10-15 19:19:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 53,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17534663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: "The last thing Adam Woodford needed today was to run straight into somebody. So, naturally, that is what he did."Adam, a new teacher at the Garrison, has too much paperwork and a tendency to not watch where he's walking. So, that's how he ended up spilling coffee all over some guy's shirt. Also, as he seems to have the worst luck, that new guy just so happens to be his roommate. His very attractive roommate.





	1. I- Life Hack: Don't Spill Coffee On People

The black iced coffee was clutched close to his chest as he hurried down the hallway, desperate not to be late. Two-inch binders filled to the brim of paperwork and lesson plans was balanced in his other hand. The sound of his footsteps was obnoxiously loud in the quiet corridor, looked like everyone was off to work, the thought only served to make him more anxious.

Adam glanced nervously from hallway to hallway, and occasionally back at the watch on his hand, it was an old model his father had given him long ago and he remembered promising himself that no matter his low the price of those fancy holographic watches dropped in the market, he wouldn't trade the battered old thing.

He was supposed to have been setting up his class, but his flight from New York had gotten delayed, meaning that he only had enough time to get his paperwork and his coffee before having to race across the Garrison to teach a class full of students(if a bunch of teenagers could be called that pure term) about the physics and laws of space travel.

He checked his watch again, 08:53. If he had any luck, he'd make it in two minutes, leaving him five minutes to get his classroom organized—or at least put a sticky note with each student's names on them at the desks. It's okay there's still time

The last thing Adam needed today was to run straight into somebody. So, naturally, that is what he did.

"Oh, shit, I am so sorry," Adam apologized quickly, his hands hovering in the air awkwardly as he tried to find a use of them, his settled for using both of them to hold his binders.

The man had to have at least been six foot four or taller, how did Adam not see him? He looked down and gasped slightly when he noticed the black stain spread across both of their chests. "Crap," he muttered, trying to smile at the stranger, it came out more like a wince.

"Hey, it's okay," the man said in a reassuring voice, his face set into a relaxed expression as if he bumping into crazy professors and getting his shirt soaked in coffee was a daily occurrence.

Adam reached into the back pocket of his pants, thanking whatever deity had made sure he had a napkin in his pockets. "Here," Adam said, trying to soak up the stain, but only making it worse, causing even more humiliation to himself, he started to panic even more And it was only the first day

"Hey, hey don't worry about it, it's just a shirt," The man calmed, the tuft of hair bouncing slightly as he spoke, he kept smiling that reassuring smile which was unknowingly calming Adam down to some extent.

"I'm so sorry, I was just kind of in a hurry and-" Adam made some motions with his napkin hand, promptly smacking the other man in the face, the napkin fell to the ground, having filled its purpose to embarrass the poor man. Evil Thing.

Adam smiled nervously. 'Sorry?, I'll make it up to you, I promise' he said hurriedly, getting more embarrassed by the second.

The guy held Adam's shoulders, looking into Adam's eyes, his eyes were dark grey and intense in a way and Adam was hit with a sense of familiarity, he shook it off and focused on the stranger's face who gave him a soft smile. "It's not a big deal, at least it wasn't hot," He started, "I can wash it out, and plus, I have more shirts,"

"You sure?"

"That I can wash of a coffee stain?" He frowned, releasing Adam's shoulders.

'No that-' Adam started but stopped as realized that the guy was messing with him. 'Nevermind' he smiled slightly, relieved at the lightness in the air.

They stood there awkwardly for a moment, both of them thinking of moving but not willing to let go of the airy moment just yet.

'You looked like you were in a bit of a hurry, I'll let you go ahead' the said with a comforting smile

"Right, Sorry," Adam apologized once more as he left, to which the man chuckled quietly. He checked his watch again and decided that he'd be fortunate if he wasn't late.

~~~

Class was chaotic, to say the least. The entire day was, really. Adam caught a glimpse of his reflection in the window, his eyes were lined with dark circles from all that had happened. He sighed, getting out of his desk and cleaning up from that day.

For him, first period wasn't that bad, he just had to keep everyone awake, which was easier said than done and by the end of the period Adam was pretty sure almost everyone in the class had snoozed off several times. Second period was a mess, enough said, and fourth had one of those assholeish kids who must've thought he ran the school, (Adam was horrified to realize that might be the case, considering how long he'd been gone). Fifth and sixth period were just rowdy, and seventh wasn't too bad if you don't count the end-of-school buzz. Adam knew he was going to have to come in early tomorrow and hopefully not run into any strangers.

He wearily picked up the binders, which were much heavier than this morning, and started heading back across the Garrison, watching as people walked past and the light's reflection on the tiles.

Room 13C, Adam repeated to himself, determined not to get lost. He passed by doors and doors of rooms until he got to the elevator and eventually the room he belonged in. Grabbing the key out of his pant pocket, he opened the door.

Inside sat a familiar face, one with the same pale skin and black undercut. It took Adam some time to recognize that it was the same person he had bumped into this morning and once he did, he inwardly cursed the entire universe. "Uhh," He started, trying to think of something un-embarrassing to say, "Are you Takashi Shirogane?" He asked. He winced, in case it was true. Just my luck. The world is against me today, he decided.

"The one and only. I'm assuming you're my new roommate," He responded, standing up. "Adam Woodford, right?" he held out his hand for him to shake.

"Yeah," He responded, shaking Takashi's hand. "Uhh, sorry about your shirt, by the way." he really wished the English vocabulary had alternative words for 'sorry', using it so many times was feeling very awkward.

He laughed, a happy light chuckle. "I told you before, it's fine man," he responded. Adam breathed a sigh of relief but still felt guilty about it. Of course, the person he spilled his coffee all over had to be his roommate.

He glanced at the two doors. "Which one's mine?" He asked.

"One on the left," Shiro stated. Adam looked to his right, and past the kitchen sat two doors. He went inside the one closest to the kitchen. It had a window, overviewing the desert, he recalled having a similar view from his window at the Garrison when he was a student, the slight familiarity made him smile. He set his bag down on the queen bed sticking out of the left wall and placed his binders full of paperwork on the dresser opposite the bed.

He collapsed against the bed and felt all his worries and tiredness falling away for a moment. Unfortunately, he had adult stuff to do, like making lesson plans for students and things along those lines. "Why," he thought aloud to himself when thinking about his responsibilities.

He stood up eventually and opened the door back to his and Takashi's shared living room. "You have any coffee?" He asked, because he didn't have any manners when it came to coffee.

Takashi didn't look up from the small orange-tinted screen he appeared to be reading something on, the light tinting his jawline orange, "Yeah, there's a coffee machine on the counter."

"Thanks," Adam responded. He walked over to the coffee machine. Apparently, Garrison coffee machines were a lot more complex than normal ones. He adjusted the glasses on his nose as he looked through the options, his chin propped on his fist so he was eye-level with the machine.

Was there not an option for normal coffee? He didn't want a latte or a macchiato or any of these other fancy types of coffee, just a plain coffee. Plus, it didn't help that his glasses weren't strong enough to see the tiny text. "I'm just going to press a button at random," he muttered to himself, grabbed a mug, and pushed a button on the screen. He'll figure it out later.

While the coffee brewed, he decided that he may as well have a chat with his new roommate, "So, what do you teach?" Adam asked, trying to spark a conversation. He was going to be sharing a room with this guy for who knows how long, so he may as know more about him than the fact that he knew how to wash a shirt.

Takashi looked up from his tablet. Adam watched as his small black tuft of hair bounced as he turned his head, amused. "I teach the younger cadets piloting," He explained.

"So you're stuck with the thirteen-year-olds?" Adam asked, recalling the loud and obnoxious crowd he had seen in the hallway. "I pity you," he joked.

He chuckled a little, a soft genuine laugh, "They're a handful, especially the dramatic ones, but I've grown to love it." He turned his body on the couch, a little more towards Adam, "It's nice watching them grow, you know?"

"Yeah, I guess Adam shrugged, "I teach Astrophysics II, so I have a lot of the older kids."

Takashi winced "The hormonal teenagers," He said warily and Adam grinned. "They're something, alright."

"You bet," Adam sighed.

"I was always terrible at Astrophysics, to be honest, I don't know how I passed my exams." Takashi set the tablet down on their coffee table, turning his full attention to Adam.

"It's not that hard," Adam said, then mentally scolded himself for sounding rude, "I didn't really understand it that well until I actually went on a mission," he stated. "I'm honestly not that good of a pilot, though," he said so he didn't sound too arrogant, it was true to some extent. How he had managed to pass that class was still a mystery.

"I'm sure you're not that bad, I mean, you're teaching here at the Garrison," Takashi reminded him.

Adam shrugged, Mister Shirogane hadn't yet seen the wonders that were Adam Woodford's piloting. "Fair point."

"If it makes you feel better, I haven't been on a mission that recently, to be honest," Takashi admitted, "I used to go on them all the time."

"Why not?" Adam asked.

He rubbed the bracelet that sat on his wrist, and after his hesitation, said, "I have been busy with teaching all the cadets. Plus, they've been sending me to local public schools lately to try and recruit kids."

"You seem to really like working with kids," Adam pointed out. He only just registered the smell of coffee, he had just been leaning on the kitchen island, talking with Takashi the entire time. He took the mug of coffee, "Are you a neat freak or am I allowed—" He put finger quotes around the word "Allowed"— "to have coffee on the couch?"

"Go ahead, I don't particularly care," He responded, "Plus, this is your room too,"

"Right," Adam answered. He picked up the coffee and walked over towards the living room and sat on the other couch. He took out the paperwork and got to work, reading through all the teaching strategies that the Garrison required him to use. He sighed. If I had done this on the plane I wouldn't have to deal with this now.

Takashi yawned, tired. "I'm kind of tired, I'm heading to bed," he stated, getting off the couch, setting the empty coffee cup on the coaster.

He had a good idea, Adam's eyelids started to grow heavy as well, despite all the caffeine he had. "Yeah, me too." 

"Sorting through those is tedious work, huh?" Takashi shook his head. "Man, hate those papers"

"Me too, hey do you mind a tad bit of smoke?"

"Uh depends, why?" Takashi asked.

Adam picked up the papers from the coffee table, adjusting them in his hands. "I was planning on lighting a fire to burn these after I am done, I could do it outside if you mind"

Takashi laughed and Adam felt a swell of pride in his chest. "You do realize that they would want them back, right?"

"I'll make copies and burn the ones that have given me pain," Adam said, having no idea where all this salt was coming from.

He got off the couch and started heading towards his bedroom. Adam glanced back at Takashi as they were both about to go to their respective rooms for the night. "I admire your determination, Mister Woodford," he said, completely serious.

Adam held back a laugh at that. "Nice meeting you, roommate." He gave Takashi a friendly smile.

Takashi glanced back. "You too," he answered. The two sets of doors closed with a soft thud.


	2. II- Star Wars Marathons: Better Than Running Marathons

Light streamed through the blinds, covering the room with the golden morning. He enjoyed having a window in his bedroom, but seeing as it faced east, every morning the sun became his alarm clock. This was good for work, he woke up naturally and it made him need less coffee, but on the weekend the sun was a pain in the ass.

He pulled out his phone, looking for something to keep him in his room. From the sounds of the kitchen, his new roommate was struggling with the coffee maker once again. I should go help him, Shiro thought to himself. He debated whenever he should get out of bed or just stay under the warm down comforter.

A frustrated groan erupted from the kitchen. He knew that he'd feel terrible about himself if he didn't help Adam, so Shiro crawled out of bed, finding a pair of shorts to wear. Roommate or not, he personally didn't want a guy he's only known for a few days to see him in boxers.

Shiro opened his bedroom door and spotted Adam, still struggling. He had obviously not combed his hair today, and his rectangular—no, they're more of a long pentagon—shaped glasses sat lopsided on his nose. 

They haven't really spoken much since Adam arrived, he had been busy with still trying to get everything set up for his classes. He looked up and spotted Shiro, and tried to comb his fingers through his caramel-colored hair, to smooth out his bedhead, probably. "Oh, hey Takashi," he said, smiling softly, and looked back to the coffee machine that he was still struggling with.

"Need help?" Shiro asked, peering over his shoulder as he pushed a button and an error message popped up.

"I've got it," he responded. He pushed another button, and the screen went black, and turned back on, showing a different error message. He sighed, and let his head fall against the gray cabinet. "Nevermind, I don't."

"Here," Shiro let Adam step out of the way, and started making him a coffee. Shiro chose his preferred option, hoping Adam wouldn't mind it. He pulled out a bowl of cereal while letting the coffee machine run. He looked back at his roommate, shrugged, and decided to grab a second bowl.

"So, Takashi," Adam said, trying to start a conversation. He had moved over to sitting on the counter-top of the island.

"You know, you can just call me Shiro. Everyone else does," Shiro offered.

Adam shrugged. "I mean, I can manage," he stated, "Unless you prefer being called Shiro, of course."

Shiro smiled to himself. He was kind of impressed, to be honest. Most people always mispronounced his full name, which is why he got into the habit of telling everyone to call him Shiro, but Adam pronounced it almost perfectly. "To be honest, I prefer Takashi."

Adam nodded, and Shiro handed him a bowl of cereal, which Adam only crushed the small flakes around the milk in. "What's your favorite color?" He asked, out of the blue.

"Huh?" Shiro asked.

"Just curious. Everything in here seems so gray, just wondered if you liked it or just haven't bothered to decorate," He asked.

Shiro thought about it for a moment, "I like purple, and black, I guess. And yeah, I've just been too busy to sit down and decorate in here."

"You probably should, this is your home, after all," Adam answered, as his cereal crunched around.

"Our home," Shiro corrected instinctively. He didn't even realize what he said until a moment afterwards. His words were true though, they were roommates now. It wasn't just him here anymore, and really, it made him happier than when he was living alone. He needed some company, and as far as roommates go, Adam was a pretty good one.

Adam's lips turned up into a wide smile, so he must have felt the same.

He regained composure of his face. "I'm going to go sit on the couch. Can you bring my coffee over once it's done?" He asked, hopping off of the black granite counter.

Shiro nodded. He took out his phone while the coffee machine finished working, viewing messages from some of his coworkers complaining about some of their students.

The coffee machine let out a beep to show it was done. Shiro took the coffee and his bowl of cereal and sat down on the other couch, the one Adam wasn't sitting on.

He gave Adam his coffee, who was wrapped in a blanket, his hair still all over the place. Shiro couldn't help but smile at his roommate, who was an adorable sight. He looked like a little golden retriever puppy wrapped up in a blanket. 

Adam thanked him for the coffee, and took a sip. "You have any movies you like?" He asked. It was a strange question, considering that movies weren't common. Movies were popular back in the twentieth and twenty-first century, but eventually television in general died off in the beginning of this century. Television was only really used for the news.

Shiro shrugged, "I don't really watch movies," he admitted. "Why?"

"I brought some of mine, wondered if you wanted to watch one. I know that movies are outdated and stuff, but I still like them," he admitted.

"Are you a hipster or do you genuinely enjoy movies?" Shiro asked.

Adam laughed slightly, and grabbed his coffee. He took a sip before answering, "I get that response a lot. I just like a lot of early twenty-first century stuff, before World War Three. Does that make me a hipster?" He asked. He brushed a strand of his hair out of his face, and looked up at Shiro.

"Not if you genuinely enjoy it," Shiro responded.

The corner of his lips turned up, just in the slightest. He nodded, and pulled the coffee table towards him so he could eat his cereal. Shiro mentally frowned. Now he couldn't use the table. He decided to just place the bowl in his lap and eat it that way.

There was a silence as they ate. Shiro hasn't watched a movie since he was young, really, if he was being honest. It was a vague memory, but he remembered singing and some snow, and the Christmas tree in the background. "You want to watch a movie?" Shiro suggested.

Adam, whose cheeks were poking out filled with breakfast cereal, nodded enthusiastically. The image reminded Shiro of a little kid, one who was just asked if they wanted to go to an amusement park, the look of slight shock and total excitement.

He chewed his cereal quickly, and swallowed, breaking out into a coughing fit. Shiro instinctively set his bowl aside and rushed over towards Adam, to make sure he wasn't choking. He placed a hand on Adam's shoulder.

He finished coughing after a few seconds, "Sorry, I choke on my food a lot," he admitted. He frowned, probably directed more towards himself.

"Try not to," Shiro suggested, his words sounding much better in his head. A slight blush of embarrassment rose to Adam's cheeks. Of course, when he tried to help, he ended up making it even worse. 

Shiro tried to find a way to make it better, "Just, you scared me for a moment," he added afterwards. Nice save, Shirogane, he praised himself.

Adam's cheeks were still a darker shade of brown, and he looked up to Shiro, "Thanks," he stated.

He hadn't realized how close they were. He could feel the heat of Adam's breath on his skin. Freckles dotted his face. He had freckles?

Adam must've messed with the thermostat, or something along those lines. It was warm in here.

"So, a movie?" Adam asked, and Shiro was thankful for the distraction. 

"Yeah, a movie," Shiro agreed, nodding.

Adam stood up and went into his room to grab a movie, allowing Shiro to exhale.What even happened back there? Shiro asked himself. He stood up to check the temperature, but it was at a somewhat cool sixty-five degrees. 

He rubbed his bracelet absentmindedly, after sitting back down on the couch.

"So, what do you think? Romance, comedy, action, sci-fi, take your pick," Adam asked.

Shiro looked up at him. He held an open container, filled with shining discs, flipping through them, murmuring the titles under his breath. He shrugged, only knowing half the terms that Adam used, "I don't really care, to be honest. What's your favorite?" He asked.

Adam stopped flipping through, and hummed. "It's geeky, but have you ever seen Star Wars?"

"No," Shiro denied, "What's it about?"

Adam smiled, "I think you'll like it, if you're willing to sit through all nine movies." He took the disc out of the case, and put it in a slot concealed in the back of the television. "You want me to make some popcorn?" He asked.

Shiro nodded. "It's Saturday, so we can probably watch all of them." He picked up the remote for the lights and turned them off, and shut the window, so he could enjoy the movie in darkness. He also grabbed himself a blanket, not because he was cold, but just because blankets were comfortable.

The cabinets opened and closed in the background as advertisements played on the television. Shiro sat bunched up on one corner of the couch, surrounded by warm blankets.

Minutes later, the microwave beeped as the advertisements on the screen finished, and Adam sat down next to Shiro. He placed the bowl of popcorn between them, and pressed the play button on the remote.

"I'm going to play it in the chronological order, just so you don't get confused," Adam stated. Shiro didn't know what he meant, but hummed in approval.

Yellow text scrolled down the screen as dramatic music played, and he tried to read it as fast as he could. 

Adam crunched on popcorn in the background. Shiro reached for a handful himself while watching a young kid on the screen. Anakin, or whatever his name was, slightly reminded Shiro of himself when he was young. He was always interested in space travel and piloting, and it was nice to have gotten his wish.

They had ended up watching as many movies as they could late into the night. Shiro may not have gotten any work done, but he still felt he accomplished something, as he watched the story of how Darth Vader rose and fell, changing to a story about Luke and Leia, and eventually a girl named Rey.

The eight movie had just concluded when he noticed the time, "Should we watch one more or just go to bed?" Shiro asked. But Adam had already fallen asleep on the couch, curled up into a ball, his head resting on Shiro's hip, his chest rising and falling silently and peacefully.


	3. III- Another Life Hack: Don't Fall Asleep On Top Of Your Roommate

Adam blinked his eyes open. It was cold in the room, he was thankful he had the blanket wrapped around him. He tried to lift himself up, but something stopped him. His vision was blurry, but he was pretty sure that he was sleeping on top of his roommate. Shiro's arms were holding Adam against his chest. He was cuddling Adam like a pillow, pretty much. Well fuck, was Adam's first coherent thought.

It didn't help that his roommate was really strong. Adam let his head sink down, which, was onto Shiro's chest. He had two options, fall back asleep, or wake up Shiro as well.

"Uhh, Takashi?" He asked softly, trying to wake him up. He didn't budge, "Takashi," Adam asked again, his voice a bit louder this time. He still didn't wake up. Adam frowned. He wanted to wriggle out of there, but he wasn't sure if that would work. His arms were trapped, so he couldn't move Shiro's arm.

It wasn't that Shiro wasn't comfortable. Adam just didn't want to deal with the embarrassment of sleeping on his roommate. He set his head down and tried his best to fall asleep, but just couldn't. He just ended up staring at the stripes of daylight coming through the window.

He was just about to drift off to sleep when he heard a little huff of amusement from Shiro, "Guess we were both tired," he muttered to himself, not aware that Adam was awake. He shifted slightly, taking his arms off of Adam, and putting them back a moment later. If Adam had to guess, he was probably scrolling through his phone. Who scrolls through their phone when their roommate is on top of them? 

He mentally slapped himself for the other way that thought could be interpreted.

Adam decided that he'd pretend to wake up in a couple minutes. But the couple minutes passed by and he still didn't feel like moving.

"Alright, bud, you're going to have to get up soon. I have work to get done," he said to himself, too silent for Adam to have heard if he was asleep. In another minute, if he woke up too early it'd be suspicious.

Adam chose to shift slightly and staged it to look like he was waking up, "Huh?" he asked. 

"Hey, you fell asleep on me," Shiro stated. How does he even say that kind of thing so calmly, Adam wondered, "I didn't really want to wake you up."

"Shit, sorry," Adam said, a blush of embarrassment rising to his cheeks. He was able to stage the blush almost perfectly by using a combination of the actual embarrassment he had, and thinking about a stupid thing he said when he was fifteen. 

He shrugged, "It's okay," he stated, calm as ever. Or maybe Shiro wasn't unnaturally calm, and Adam was just very easily embarrassed. That sounded about accurate.

Adam picked himself up and sat on one end of the couch. He glanced around the room, not knowing what to do. He felt like he should go get a shower, be productive, but then again, the couch was comfortable. He took his phone and started scrolling, choosing to stay where he is. The gray fabric of the couch was too welcoming, and the blanket too soft.

They both sat on the couch in silence like this for another quarter-hour or so. "Hey, forgot to tell you, but, I'm going on another mission in a couple months," Shiro said, out of the blue.

Adam looked up from his phone, over to Shiro, "You are? That's great!" He said, and gave Shiro a small smile of encouragement.

Shiro smiled a big grin, one that made his eyes squint just a little, "Yeah, I found out yesterday. I didn't think they'd let me go, but they did," he stated.

Adam briefly wondered why the Garrison wouldn't have let Shiro go, but figured that'd be rude to ask. "How long do you think you'll be gone?" he asked instead.

"It's just over to the Sumner station and back, so, probably a month, maybe two," he said, shrugging a little at the estimate.

Adam nodded, "I'm happy for you," he said. Usually, he wouldn't like his friend leaving, especially since Adam has yet to make any others, but as far as space missions went, two months was relatively short. He could live with two months.

He went back to his phone, and they stayed like that for a while longer, letting the day fade. They both knew they had work to get done, but neither of them felt like doing work. The Sunday morning dripped into the afternoon, but the sunlight still streamed through the blinds.

It was around fourteen-hundred, or two PM—Adam was still adjusting to using military time—when Shiro spoke up, "You want to go out for a ride? I've got a second hoverbike you can use," Shiro asked.

Adam tried to think of a response. He knew saying yes would end in him humiliating himself, but how would he phrase saying 'no' without being rude? "I'm good," he said, and winced at the fact he was still rude, despite trying not to be.

"Why not?" He asked, "Tired?"

Adam shrugged, "No, I was just never that good at it, if I'm being honest," he admitted. It was something he didn't like admitting, seeing as it was such a common skill, like knowing how to swim. He felt the embarrassment of not knowing something so simple heat up his face.

He frowned slightly, but the frown changed to a smile, "Would you want to learn?"

Adam cocked his head to the side, "Huh?" He asked, not fully processing what Shiro had asked for a moment.

He repeated himself, a bit louder this time, "Do you want me to teach you?"

~~~

Due to Adam's poor decision, he was sitting on Shiro's hoverbike, leaving himself wondering two things. One, why was he such a dumbass, and two, why did these hoverbikes not have seatbelts?

Adam adjusted his goggles, which were supposed to keep the sand out of his eyes, which, he wasn't quite sure if they would or not. The fact he was wearing his glasses underneath the goggles didn't make them any more comfortable.

They had chosen a secluded part of the desert, one that was wide open and relatively cacti-less. There were formations of rocks on the side, crooked into strange shapes and arches, like a stone forest.

Shiro strapped on a pair of goggles, the string holding them to his head looking a little worn. "I was thinking we could just ride around here for now, seeing as you're still new," he suggested.

Adam adjusted himself in the seat. The worn leather was probably more comfortable than new leather would have been, but he was just uncomfortable in general, "Whatever would mean that I don't die," he stated.

Shiro sat behind him, pressing himself against Adam. "Have some faith in yourself," he said. Adam could feel his breath on his neck, which only made him more uncomfortable.

He started the engine. Adam clutched the handlebars tightly, and rotated his hands, like Shiro had told him to do when he was summarizing the basics.

Fuck. They both yelped in surprise as the bike started violently rolling backwards. Shiro clutched onto Adam, pressing himself against him.

Adam winced in embarrassment. He was able to stop the bike, thankfully. His heart was left pounding louder than a set of drums. "Sorry," he said sheepishly, partly because he was still disoriented from the whole experience.

Again, why did they not have seatbelts?

Shiro sounded like he was also trying to regain his breath. "It's okay, just try again," he stated.

Adam rotated his hands back in the air to remind himself to not do that again. He grabbed the handlebars, and thrust his hands forward. 

He did so too quickly, apparently. Adam, of course, had to have taken a breath at just the wrong time, and got the wind knocked out of him, leaving himself gasping for air as they came to a stop again. As soon as he regained control of his lungs, he apologized once more. He held onto the handlebars once more, and felt Shiro brace himself.

Adam took a breath in, partly to clear his mind, and partly because he needed to calm himself. "Patience yields focus," he muttered to himself, a saying his mom taught him, one that she'd always tell him whenever he got too stressed. Her voice rang in his head whenever he thought of it.

"Hmm?" Shiro asked.

Adam didn't realize he said it out loud. "Oh, it's just a saying I have," he answered.

Shiro nodded, or, at least, it felt like nodding. "Patience yields focus," he said, trying the words out for himself. "I like it," he decided.

For some reason, his comment made Adam smile. He pushed down once more, not too hardly, and they were off at a good speed. 

His heart was racing, but instead of it being because he thought he was going to die, it was because he wasn't.

After getting used to the speed, Adam let his gaze wander, looking at the rock formations and the mountains in the distance. It was definitely a change of scenery from New York. The rusty red tones against the endless blue skies, compared to the gray-on-gray-on-gray he grew up with.

"Okay, you've got taking off down," Shiro had to raise his voice so it didn't get drowned out in the wind, "How about turning?" He asked. 

His tone was a little too urgent for Adam's taste.

He looked back forward and a tall cactus was right in front of them. Wide-eyed, he pushed on the brakes as hard as he could. He could feel Shiro desperately cling onto Adam as they both flew up during the sudden stop. His head was back to screaming.

They settled on the ground. They were only a few feet away from the cactus, thankfully he stopped in the nick of time. Adam let himself fall against the handlebars of the bike, partly because he was tired, partly because he was done.

"You'll get it, I'm sure," Shiro encouraged weakly, still out of breath.

Adam frowned, "Takashi, I almost just ran us into a cactus," he pointed out, still breathing heavily.

"Look, if I learned how to ride one of these things, anyone can," Shiro stated, like it was a fact, along with 'Water is wet,' and 'The sky is blue.'

Adam frowned. He leaned his head against his arm, which was also draped across the front, "You know, you're one of the best pilots at the Garrison. Of course you can fly a damn hoverbike. I'm not as talented."

"Well, that's why I'm teaching you," he commented. "I'm making a new goal for us. Before I leave to go to Sumner, you're going to learn how to fly this thing." he stated firmly, as if it was an order.

Adam definitely doubted Shiro's claim. The mission was in two months, and two months was a pretty short time, especially for such a challenge. "You think I'll be able to learn how to use this thing in two months?" he questioned.

Shiro put a hand on Adam's shoulder, causing Adam to turn around to face him. He looked incredibly determined, and had the smallest smirk on his face, "I know you will."


	4. IV- Oh Shit, He's Hot.

Adam tried not to stumble too much on his way through the hallways. It was disorienting, flying around on hoverbikes all the time. But Adam liked to think he's been doing better, he only thought he was going to die once yesterday, and that's only because he got his left and right confused.

He opened the door, carrying the groceries he bought down at the store. He was pretty sure they'd expire before they got a chance to cook, but he had to at least pretend they were going to put in some effort.

Music was blasting through a set of speakers, playing some song that came out about a year ago. Adam couldn't remember the name of it, only the upbeat tune and a couple of the lyrics.

And Shiro was dancing. He seemed to have no direct dance, just him flowing around to the music, head banging, throwing his hands up, jumping and swirling and sliding around. Like he didn't have a care in the world. 

His sleeves were rolled up, showing his arms off, the muscles surprisingly defined. Adam knew Shiro was strong, but he didn't really have a chance to see for himself.

"And I'll run across the world," he sang. His voice may have been off-key, going low where it should have been high, spreading out the word "world" a little too long. "I'll sail across the seas, I'll travel a thousand galaxies, for you to be there with me," but something about his singing was endearing for Adam.

And he kept dancing, letting himself sway to the music, his hair sticking out, thin beads of sweat lining his forehead. He never spotted Adam standing in the doorway, though.

Adam felt his cheeks getting warmer. He knew that Shiro was attractive, he knew that since he met him. Tall, strong, and could probably beat half of the people attending the Garrison in a fight, but he had kind eyes and almost never got mad (unless he is under too much stress). 

He didn't want a boyfriend, not right now. Especially not his roommate, everybody knows that never works out. But for some reason, Adam couldn't not watch as his roommate danced around in circles, occasionally bumping into the island or the couch. He tried his best to not spill the bag of groceries all over the floor, he didn't need another incident like when they first met.

He stood there, wide-eyed, red-faced, and could only form one coherent thought: Oh shit, he's hot.

~~~

Two weeks later, Shiro was still hot.

Well, it wouldn't have been like his attractiveness faded over two weeks. That takes years to happen. But whenever Adam develops what he nicknamed a "mini-crush," or a much fonder nickname, "this bullshit again," it usually only lasts a few days. But two weeks later, it didn't waver a bit, which was unnerving for Adam.

"Hey, Adam, what's up?" he asked, resting his head on his fist, which was propped up on the couch. Hearing Shiro's voice made his chest warm up a little, to which he mentally scolded himself. No, stop that.

Adam already knew it was Shiro, but still found it necessary to spin his head around to check, "I'm just grading papers," he admitted. His voice sounded more tired than he expected, which was odd, considering he got a decent amount of sleep for once. He scribbled a note onto the margin of the essay in green pen. Green was his preferred color for grading essays. Why, he had no clue. Green wasn't even his favorite color.

Shiro squinted, reading the note Adam left, "Did you just write "What the fuck" on a student's essay?" he asked, pointing to the note.

"Yep," Adam said, clicking the pen he was holding, "Sometimes that's the only way to say it."

Shiro shrugged, "There's a point there. I would do the same if I wasn't teaching such young students," he stated.

"I knew what fuck meant since I was nine, I think the thirteen-year-olds would know," Adam said, clicking his pen again to circle a misspelling.

"Yeah, I just don't want them to go, "Ooh, Mister Shirogane said fuck,"" he said, raising his voice to imitate a kid's. "Plus, it's kind of unprofessional."

Adam shrugged, "I personally stopped caring after about a week," he admitted, "Now all the students think I'm the cool teacher because I end up constantly swearing and make a lot of gay jokes."

Shiro blinked, taken aback, "You're gay?" he asked. Right, Adam never came out to Shiro. He knew he was forgetting something. He hoped Shrio wasn't homophobic, though he doubted he was.

"Technically bisexual, but yeah," Adam answered. He usually just said he was gay because it was simpler, and he did swing more towards men if he was being honest.

He laughed a little, "Just, I'm gay too. What are the odds?" he asked.

Adam shrugged. He glanced back up towards Shiro. How had he not even considered that possibility before? After many times, Adam got used to accidentally developing crushes on straight guys, so that was probably part of the problem. He just assumed Shiro was just another one of those straight guys he developed a mini-crush on.

Shiro stuck out his arm randomly, like he was reaching for something, "You ever wish you could do that magic thing, like the Jedi do?" he asked.

"The Force?" Adam asked. Shiro still talked about the Star Wars movies, often discussing them at break. It lead to someone asking Adam to borrow the movies he brought, which was surprising. Maybe Shiro was starting a new trend, well, it'd be an old trend, really, of movie watching around the Garrison.

"Yeah, that," Shiro said, "Imagine how useful that'd be. I could just summon a glass of water whenever I wanted to."

"Also turning off the lights when you're in bed," Adam agreed. 

When he was little, he used to let things drop and pretend he was using the force to make them fall. His parents used to gasp and say, "Wow, you're a Jedi?"

They were silent for a moment, neither of them having anything to add to the conversation. Adam went back to grading papers, but Shiro just leaned on the back of the couch, scrolling through the internet.

"Can I try on your glasses?" he asked out of the blue, "I just want to see what I look like with 'em."

He gave a huff, parts amusement and parts annoyance. Oh, how he was so used to that question. He could already hear Shiro asking "How many fingers am I holding up?" "So you can make fun of how bad my vision is?"

Shiro frowned, "I'll take that as a no," he decided.

Adam glanced from side to side. He was probably going to be asked this again in a couple weeks, so he may as well give Shiro the satisfaction now, "Sure," he said, sliding them off his nose, and passing them to Shiro, "Just don't smudge them."

"How do I look?" he asked.

Adam couldn't tell. Shiro just looked like a blurry mess to him. "I don't know," he said with a little shrug.

"Hold on, I'm going to go find a mirror," he decided, and started wandering off towards the bathroom. Adam just sat there staring into space. Shiro just stole his eyesight, so all he could do is wait. He could grade the paper if he shoved his face right up next to it, but he'd rather not.

"Here you go," he said, giving Adam his glasses back.

"Thanks," Adam answered, sliding his glasses back on his nose. Yay, he could see again.

Shiro sat down on the couch with Adam, and just kept himself busy. Adam wondered if he had anything better to do, but he probably didn't, seeing as he stayed there with Adam for quite a while.

~~~

Adam woke up randomly, middle of the night. Probably due to all the coffee he had earlier. He shrugged and rolled over, facing towards the wall to try and fall asleep. It didn't work.

An indefinite amount of time passed, and all he got done was tossing and turning, and learned he could see the titles of the books on his bookshelf with his left eye, but not his right.

After what felt like an hour he decided to get up and get some water, or maybe a snack. He slid his glasses back on his nose and started heading out to the kitchen.

A silhouette stood by the window. Upon further realization, Adam saw that the silhouette was Shiro, looking out the window, a cup of what looked like either tea or coffee in his hands. He wasn't as caffeine-dependent as Adam was, so he'd say it's probably tea. He sipped his probably-tea and stared up at the stars. He looked peaceful, Adam almost didn't want to interrupt him.

He grabbed a glass from the cabinet and poured himself some tap-water. Taking a sip of water, Adam headed towards the window. "Hey, Takashi. What're you doing up?" he asked.

Shiro shrugged, "Couldn't sleep," he stated. He took another sip of his probably-tea.

"Me neither," Adam agreed.

"It's cause you have three liters of coffee every day," Shiro teased.

Adam wanted to disagree, but it was true, "Fair enough," he decided.

"I can't wait, you know. It's been a while since I've been up there," he said, pointing to the stars. He was 

Adam shrugged, "I always get stressed during missions. Too much is going on, and everyone else's lives depend on me," he admitted. He always got scared that he was going to crash and kill everyone else on board, no matter how many times other people told him he was good. He was glad he was able to teach here instead. "How do you enjoy them?"

"I don't know. There's just something about space that I enjoy. I'm just free from all my Earth issues," He rubbed the bracelet he wore on his wrist. He wondered why he wore it to bed, but chose not to ask. He was familiar with things like that, his sister had a necklace she always wore, no matter what. It probably meant something to him.

Adam looked up at the stars. Millions of small light dotting the desert sky. He still found it strange to look at, the sharp contrast between all the stars here and the lack of them back in New York. He only really saw this many stars once before, when there was a major power outage when he was seven. He couldn't stop staring at the sky then.

That was then he decided he wanted to be a pilot. He ended up working for the Northeast Galactic Union, and then two years later got offered a job at the Garrison, and now he was here.

"If you hate missions so much, why'd you decide to be a pilot?" he asked.

Adam shrugged, "They're stressful, sure, but flying's pretty fun. Plus, space is pretty cool."

Shiro smiled a little, still staring at the stars. "Yeah. Space is pretty cool."

A shooting star passed by, bringing a small smile to Adam's face.


	5. V- Making My Way Downtown, Deserts Pass, It's Very Sandy

Shiro looked ahead, legs wrapped around the seat of the bike, "You ready?" he asked, leaning into position, with his butt sticking out on the end. It always felt weird sitting on the bike when you haven't done so for a couple days.

Adam was strapping on his goggles. It was weird seeing him without his glasses, which he wore all the time except for riding. He hated contacts, apparently "they made his face look weird."

"Definitely," he answered, pulling the goggles over his face.

Windy days were the worst possible option for racing, but damn it, they didn't care. All the more challenge was all the more fun for them.

They hadn't raced yet before, as Shiro wanted to make sure Adam was good enough for it to be a fair fight. And, though Adam insisted he wasn't, it was a pretty fair fight by now. Adam hopped up on his bike, grabbing the front of the handlebars.

One of Shiro's friends, Jackson, who they had invited to judge the race, yelled into a megaphone. "On your marks!" He yelled. His blonde hair was moving rapidly in the breeze, blowing like crazy.

Adam looked over at Shiro, a mischievous smirk on his lips, his brown hair blowing in his face. His bronze eyes on fire with determination.

"Get set!"

Shiro returned the smirk. Adam was good, but Shiro was going to win.

"Go!" He yelled.

Shiro thrust forward on the handles and sped forwards instantly, goggles blocking the wind and the sand from his vision.

A rocky archway passed overhead, barely for a second. It was all a deep red blur of sand and stone as they zoomed up a ramp made of a sloped rock.

They were still neck-and-neck, floating through the air. Shiro couldn't keep his eyes off of Adam as the wind blew through his hair. There was something oddly beautiful seeing him like that, single-focused, looking straight ahead at their destination.

When Shiro looked ahead at the road in front of him, instead of seeing the bottom half of the ramp, he saw the stone wall and his bike heading directly for it. Fuck. 

He took a sharp left turn to avoid hitting the wall. Matt yelled ". Looks like we have to go the long way, he thought, speeding forward, eyes peeled for the ramp back onto the track.

He never got distracted like that, what gives?

He raced up the ramp, fingers clutching the handlebars like his life depended on it. The winds got hard to see through, so he looked at the buttons in the middle. He spotted the button for the headlights and jammed his elbow on it, hands still on the bars keeping him stable.

Adam's caramel-colored hair came into view. So close. Getting closer, but still not quite. The wide tunnel engulfed his body into the darkness.

Tunnel...tunnel...tunnel! Shiro knew what to do.

The tunnel wasn't wide enough for Shiro, who was slowly gaining on Adam, to pass beside him. But it was tall enough.

Shiro made a sharp right turn, riding on the side of the wall. He pressed his foot against the pedal that determined the hover power, pushing him onto the ceiling.

Adam looked up at Shiro, their heads barely inches apart. His eyes went wide, mouth agape.

Shiro gave a satisfied smirk. "Looks like I'm ahead," he said, though his words were lost in the noise of the wind and the sound of their bikes.

He blinked slowly, trying to comprehend what was happening. Adam was too stunned to respond as Shiro rolled in front of him.

Shiro squinted as he drove out of the dark tunnel and into the light of the stormy sky. The adjustment took another couple 

The desert around him was so wide and open, so full. The winds have settled down enough so he could see the land around him. The rust-colored desert with small cacti littering about to his left, and the tall sloping cliffs of stone to the right, and a road of some sort below him. Shiro loved space, it was his favorite place, but here was probably one of his favorite places on Earth.

He turned a sharp corner, gliding on the wall, making the entire world turn sideways, the floor and sky becoming a wall and the wall becoming the ground.

The wind whipped at his face, turning the tuft of hair on his head into small whips, attacking his forehead.

The edge of the cliff was approaching quickly, and Shiro wondered if Adam was going to follow through. Shiro sped up, pushed his foot on the pedal to increase hover-power, and shot off.

He heard screaming behind him, and a shadow was cast over him. Adam was directly above him, soaring high and yelling curses at the top of his lungs. For someone who never completed the jump on their own before, Adam was doing pretty well.

They fell downhill for another couple hundred feet, landing just above the ground to take off again. Adam was in front of Shiro, a couple yards ahead at most. Shiro followed Adam into the sloped walls of the ground, determined to pass in front of him.

Adam held his ground, turning up the left wall when Shiro did, blocking his every move, like he could see behind him.

They emerged out the other side and it was neck-and-neck. Adam straight beside Shiro, hair blowing in the wind, face covered in a layer of dirt.

"And Woodford is in the lead! Nope, Shirogane just passed him. It's neck-and-neck folks, with barely a mile to go!" Jackson yelled, commentating for an audience who didn't exist. Shiro was going to have to take that megaphone away from him before Jackson pissed off Iverson. It was going to happen someday, and it will not end well for Jackson Greenton.

Shiro pushed on the handlebars as hard as he could, desperately trying to overcome Adam. He looked like he was having the time of his life, the smile on his face, making Shiro distracted for just a second.

But a second was all it took.

"And Woodford wins!" Jackson yelled, waving a huge checkered flag that he had insisted on bringing. Shiro didn't know how he befriended that dork.

Adam stopped his bike, and Shiro drove up behind him, doing the same.

"Good race out there, Adam," Shiro encouraged.

Adam took off his goggles, leaving red marks where they sat and clean skin around his eyes. All the dust made the rest of his skin have more of a reddish-hue to it, some of it had gotten onto his shirt and his hair, "Probably just beginners luck," he dismissed.

Shiro shrugged, "Well, takes a whole lot of luck to beat me," he said, patting Adam on the shoulder, "You're a natural at this, admit it," he stated.

Adam looked over at him. He was just a couple inches taller than Shiro, which made Shiro feel short. He was used to being the tallest one in the room, which made having a 6'5 roommate terrible.

"Okay, I guess I am getting good," he admitted, putting a hand to the back of his neck.

Jackson came up behind the two of them, "So," he started, barging into their conversation, "You just beat the dude whose been doing this for eight fuckin years, how do you feel?" he asked. He held his hand out towards Adam like he was holding a microphone.

Adam laughed a little, "Well, guess I'm pretty proud," he stated. He shrugged, "And kind of ready for some food."

"Couldn't agree more, Adam. Back to you," he said, turning around, as if he was looking to some invisible camera.

Shiro had to put up with his antics for an entire mission once, which, despite being annoying at first, eventually grew endearing. Jackson was the biggest dork Shiro knew, but it also meant he didn't judge Shiro for his terrible singing and dancing.

"But yeah, back to the food thing. You want to get something from the Garrison, or..." Adam let his voice trail off.

"The Garrison's cafe is terrible," Jackson answered, wiping the blonde hair out of his face, "We like to hit up the town a little while over, grab some snacks," he stated, "You up for a trip?"

Shiro smiled at the idea. Wow, he hasn't been out there in what, six, seven months? It's been since late March, so yeah, seven months. "Sounds great," he answered.

Jackson hopped on a bike, "Alright, let's hit the road!" he yelled enthusiastically.

"You can drive, you won," Shiro told Adam.

Adam shook his head, "It's your bike," he answered.

"I don't care."

Adam shrugged, "I don't really care either," he admitted.

Jackson was practically pulling his hair out in the background, "One of you little shitfucks better make up your mind or you both're just riding on the back of mine." he stated.

Adam shrugged, "Alright, I'll just drive," he stated. He took the front of the bike, and Shiro wrapped his arms around him, holding on tightly.

Jackson started up the bike and so did Adam, causing them to take off. It was slower than when they were racing, just a normal drive.

The skies started to clear up in some areas as they drove, the clouds fading and turning paler as the day passed on into the evening. It was a somewhat long drive to the town, about twenty minutes to the quaint little desert town of Mosquero, population of 9,810.

Shiro glanced around at the familiar town, with the townhouses standing two stories, made of brick. He honestly loved it, it was just so small and beautiful, plus it was driving distance to the Garrison. If he ever got a chance to have his own house, he'd find a place here. 

He doubted he ever would, but he likes to dream.

But for now he's happy with his room at the Garrison. He has an amazing roommate and a great job, and as far as his health goes, it hasn't been any worse.

They pulled over in two parking spots by an alleyway, a couple people watching for a second before going back to their own business. Shiro hopped off the bike, letting Adam get off.

Jackson thrust open the doors to the small convenience store, "Alright, let's raid us some food," he declared, heading instantly for the chip isle. He always got one specific brand of chips, and went around to every store until he could find that brand.

Adam was drawn towards the back of the shop, where the slushy machine sat.

"I haven't had one of these since I was a kid," he murmured, and grabbed the biggest cup there was. Shiro watched with amusement as he proceeded to get every flavor there, aside from Pineapple.

Adam turned around, holding his colorful drink. He must have only just noticed Shiro was there. "What?" he asked, like he thought Shiro was judging him.

Shiro looked at him, and then his drink, and gave a huff of amusement, "Like those things?" he asked.

Adam took a sip, nodding.

Shiro shrugged, grabbed a smaller cup and filled it up with just two flavors, grape and soda. He hadn't had one in a long time either, so he didn't blame Adam.

Jackson was holding three bags of chips and a soda, clutching them in his arms. He looked over Shiro's and Adam's purchases, and nodded approvingly. They paid for their food and hopped back onto the bikes, heading towards the outskirts of town.

The streetlights were still visible behind them, but as the day faded, the sunset glowed behind them.

"You going on that mission on the sixth, right?" Jackson asked, taking a sip of his soda.

Shiro nodded, "Yeah, ten more days," he stated.

"You excited?" he asked.

Shiro nodded again, taking another sip of his slushy. But for some reason he wasn't as excited as he expected himself to be.

Adam stayed quiet.

"Dude, that's great. You going too, Adam?" he asked.

Adam shook his head no. His teeth chattered a little, "Sorry, brain freeze," he apologized, rubbing his temple with his free hand.

"Man, those suck."

Adam nodded in agreement.

"Guess that means you'll be roommate-less for a while," Jackson stated, "I always hate it whenever Cassie goes on missions. Guess it's different cause you two are roommates, not dating, but yeah," he answered. Jackson had started dating a close friend of his about a year ago, another pilot at the Garrison, and he wouldn't shut up about her.

Shiro always wondered what love was like, but he never pushed himself into it. Never had the time, his main focus is piloting. He looked over at Adam, who was watching the sun sink into the sand.


	6. VI- And That's How He Knew He Fucked Up.

The living room was a mess. Different space suits were strewn all across both couches, a few pairs of more comfortable-looking clothes draped across the coffee table. A couple cups of coffee sat on the coffee table as well, only halfway-full.

Adam glanced over the scene. Shiro must have fallen asleep while packing, he thought. There was a half-packed suitcase on one of their couches, a couple of pant legs hanging over the sides.

He took the cold cups of coffee off the table—wastes of perfectly good coffee—and dumped them in the sink, watching disappointingly as the brown liquid flowed into the drain. Even if you weren't as much as a caffeine addict, you have to admit that it's a waste.

He took one of the empty mugs and put it under the coffee machine and clicked the first button he saw. Adam looked over at the door that closed Shiro's room off. He couldn't tell if Shiro was awake or not, and he definitely didn't want to walk in on his roommate being half-naked again. That was an awkward day, to say the least.

Adam knocked on the door loudly, "You awake?" he asked.

He got no response, which probably meant Shiro was still asleep. Adam shrugged and walked away, hoping the coffee was done brewing. Still, after almost three months, Adam has yet to truly figure out how it works, mainly because the writing on it was too small for him to see.

He took a sip of the much-too-sweet coffee and sighed. He was going to miss Shiro. He doesn't know why he'd miss him so much, but he would. Adam's never really been that much of an independent person, and while he was making friends with people around the office, he still wasn't close with any of them.

It's only for a couple months, Adam. You've lived without others for a month, he told himself. He took a sip of his coffee. Coffee always helped calm him down, plus it gave him energy.

"Hey, Adam," Shiro said, walking into the living room, making Adam jump slightly in surprise.

He glanced over at the shirt he was wearing. Splattered across the front were two large coffee stains. The embarrassing memories of their first encounter came rushing back to Adam, and he felt the tips of his ears glow red in embarrassment.

"Is- is that the shirt I spilled coffee all over?" Adam asked, trying his best to make the words go.

Shiro nodded, "Yeah."

Adam felt himself die a little on the inside as the embarrassing memories were back on the surface of his mind.

Shiro looked at Adam's embarrassment, a little friendly smirk on his face. Like he accomplished something. "You get so embarrassed over the smallest things," he commented, which only made Adam more embarrassed.

"Why do you even still have that?" Adam asked.

"Wasn't able to get the stain out, plus, it's too comfortable to throw away. So I kept it," he stated.

Shiro made himself some coffee. Adam sat up on the countertop, too lazy to go around and use the barstool for it's intended purpose. Besides, the countertop made him feel extra tall.

"You're coming back on January 2nd, right?" Adam asked, between sips of coffee.

Shiro nodded, "Hate spending Christmas in space, but what can you do?" he stated, taking a sip of coffee.

He was right. He'd be in space, with only himself and a few other people. At least Adam could fly back to New York and see his family.

"I think they're going to let us fly by Earth on Christmas, just so we can call our family and such," Shiro stated, a slight smile on his face at the better news. At least he wasn't going to be completely alone on Christmas.

~~~

The launch was at eleven. It was surprisingly cold for a desert that morning, all the winds causing Adam's hair to blow around and make him long for a blanket and to watch a movie.

He wanted to finish up the rest of the Avengers movies, but Shiro made him wait until he got back to continue watching. Adam was going to, of course, but he wasn't going to be happy about having to wait seven weeks.

"You know, you've grown on me, Woodford," Shiro stated, "Don't know what it's going to be like up there without you."

Adam nodded, "The feeling's mutual," he agreed. He was going to miss Shiro.

"Well, at least I kept my promise," he said. Shiro looked over at Adam.

Adam squinted slightly, confused. What promise?

"You know, teaching you to fly," he clarified.

He smiled slightly, with a slight huff of amusement, "Guess you're right, I did end up learning," Adam said, thinking of their fly last night. Adam had beat Shiro again, for the second time ever.

"No offence, but you were terrible at first," Shiro said with a little chuckle, "Still get nervous whenever you fly too close to a cactus."

Adam nodded in agreement. He was a pretty shitty flyer when he started, but now he was pretty decent, "Never thought I'd get any better, but here we are."

Shiro shrugged, "I knew you'd get good, you just needed practice and a teacher," he told Adam. The crowds were starting to form around the spaceship, to prepare for the launch. The extra people caused a bit of a buffer from all the wind, but for someone as tall as Adam it didn't help much.

Three other people started heading in one direction. A feminine voice called out for Shiro.

"Sorry, Adam, got to go," Shiro said. He held his arms out for a hug, which Adam happily accepted. The hug was warm and inviting. Shiro gave great hugs, one of the things Adam was going to miss.

Shiro started walking away, following the other three members of his crew towards the building.

"Wait! Takashi!" Adam yelled, reaching out to Shiro. He grabbed Shiro's hand in a desperate attempt to get his attention.

"Yeah?" He asked, turning around. His dark-gray eyes looked black most of the time, but now Adam could see the lines of silver in them.

Adam made a decision on impulse. His body just moved without his mind's consent, and despite the lack of thought put into his movement, he did so anyway.

But Adam regretted it as soon as his lips touched Shiro's. It was one-sided and dull and awkward, his lips were warm but uninviting. He realized what he did and pulled away instantly, feeling himself sink down. Guilt mixed with a cup of heartbreak, a tablespoon of regret, and a dash of disappointment.

He let his head fall down, focusing on the cracks on the pavement instead of seeing his face.

Shiro stood there frozen.

"Shiro! We have to leave!" Shiro's crewmate yelled. 

Adam looked up at Shiro. "I-" He started. He took a breath, swallowed his guilt and regret, and continued to speak, "I'm sorry."

But there was no taking back what he did. God, why couldn't I have not been a disaster for one minute. I should have thought first. Why the fuck did I do that. Adam was a disaster and could have very likely just fucked things up with Shiro permanently. He probably did fuck things up. Shiro was gay, yeah, but that doesn't mean he liked Adam.

He still had the stunned look on his face, a deer caught in headlights, frozen in something that could only end in disaster.

His face only made Adam panic more. Sometimes life would be easier if Adam had an impulse control that wasn't either all or nothing. He either did the first thing that didn't even fully come to his mind or he overthought about every action he took.

His crewmate grabbed his wrist and started dragging Shiro away, who stumbled at first, but kept walking.

Adam shoved his hands in his pockets as turned around and walked away. He was a mess. 

Behind him, noises starting coming from the launch pad. "T-minus, ten seconds. Nine. Eight. Seven."

"Six. Five. Four," could probably be heard from the other side of the desert.

Adam turned around at the last moment, looking up. "Three. Two. One." The launch was deafening, even from where Adam stood. But he watched as they took off, the oranges and yellows and the white from the rocket cutting through the crystal blue sky.

He couldn't keep his eye off of it as it grew smaller and smaller, dissolving into the blue around it. 

I should have thought this through first.

Takashi, I'm sorry.


	7. VII- A Long Way Apart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate switching POV mid-chapter, but this one has to have it, or else it wouldn't work

Shiro looked up at the stars, pressing a hand to the cool glass. He always loved watching them, as they twinkled and shone like a million city lights. Adam would have loved this, a voice said in his head. The thought of him made his heart sink down into the ocean.

He had looked so heartbroken when Shiro left. The regret in his bronze-colored eyes still shone, despite being millions and millions of miles away. It was hard being millions of miles away from home, but Shiro had grown used to it. Though sometimes, the sheer reality of that hits you, and it's one of the hardest feelings in the world.

There was loud creaking as metal shifted and the door opened. "Shiro, when are you going to stop moping and actually get up?" a familiar voice asked. Samantha, his crew-mate walked up behind him. Her dark hair was tied into a slick ponytail, as usual, not a strand out of place.

He shrugged. He really didn't want to get up, not to mention the fact that he felt like shit. Being in space really messes with him, but Shiro did so anyway. It was his job, after all, no matter how much it messed with him.

"You miss your boy-toy?" She asked. She had a bad habit of saying hilarious things at the worst possible times.

Shiro laughed, but grew embarrassed, a slight blush on his cheeks, "Already told you, Sam. We're not together."

She rolled her eyes, "Why'd he kiss you, then?" she asked, sitting down next to Shiro. She leaned against the glass, tensing up a little at the cold of it.

Shiro looked back at the stars shining above them. "I don't know," he muttered.

A doubtful look rested on her face, "You ever talk to him? Send an e-mail or something? Bet he misses you," she said.

Shiro shrugged. He wrapped his arms around his knees, hugging them as he sat on the ground.

"Dude, you've got to talk to the guy. You gays are such disasters sometimes," she said, looking over at him. She seemed to always have that same playful smirk on her face. Shiro would have to introduce her to Jackson at some point.

Hypocrite. Shiro glared at her, "You're bisexual," he pointed out.

She nodded, a slight smirk on her face, "You say that like I'm not a disaster." She pushed herself up, "There's breakfast down in the kitchen for you, once you get off your ass."

Shiro kept staring at the stars as she stood up and left. He wanted to tell Adam that it was okay that he kissed him, that he was okay with it.

Being kissed by your roommate, your friend, is a pretty strange experience. Shiro wished he hadn't tensed up as Adam kissed him, that he had expected it more, so he could have had more of a chance to respond before Samantha pulled him away to board the ship.

He wished he could tell Adam that he didn't really mind it, but he couldn't. That's not the type of thing you say over email, and Shiro wasn't going home for quite a while.

Shiro stood up and headed towards the kitchen for some food. He needed to get up and motivated at some point.

He stole one last glance at the stars before closing the door behind him.

~~~

Over the course of the week, Samantha had bothered Shiro about Adam a total of fifteen times, which added to the grand total of thirty one.

"You need to write to him," Samantha complained. Scratch that, sixteen.

"You know that would take weeks to send, right?" Shiro asked.

She shrugged, "It'll make you feel better, and it'll make him feel better, and that'll make all of us feel better. You're a cool guy, but you've been miserable for the past three weeks."

Shiro opened his mouth to protest.

"And don't you give me that "Oh, it should be done in person" bullshit. Email is better, and you can edit your mistakes. If you say the wrong thing there's autocorrect, but there's no autocorrect for real life," she stated.

Shiro wanted to find a valid point for that, but he couldn't.

Samantha shrugged. "I'll edit it for you if you want, even," she offered, laying against the ground. She had a habit of lounging around dramatically for situations that did not need the drama.

His eyes went wide. Shiro could already see it: five hundred words of puns, bad jokes, and embarrassing nicknames, "Please no."

She gave him the puppy-dog eyes, which, with her dark brown eyes, was almost irresistible. But Shiro had learned to resist it, "I promise not to put any sex jokes!" she protested.

"No," he shut down.

She pouted, "At least write the email," she said in a small voice.

Dammit. "Fine," He gave in, and opened a new tab.

~~~

Adam stared out the window, another cloudless day. One thing about living in the desert is that you really get sick of clear skies. Though, guess an upside is that no matter what the stars are always visible. He wondered if Shiro ever got sick of always seeing the stars around him, all the time. But then again, Adam never did on his missions.

Footsteps approached him. He didn't even hear the door open, just a familiar voice saying, "You've been acting mopey for the past three weeks, you okay?"

Adam turned his head around, "Hey, Jackson."

His blonde-haired friend sat down on the couch next to him. "Do I need to move in with you so you'll actually do shit from time to time?" he asked, not really in a harsh way, more of a joking way.

Adam shrugged, a frown still stuck to his face.

"You still upset at your little "fuckup?" as you call it?" he asked.

He nodded slightly, turning around so he sat on the couch properly, "Yeah, I guess," Adam answered. He glanced at the cup of cold coffee sitting on the table, wondering how long it's been sitting out for. Probably a couple days, at least.

"Look, dude. Shiro's not going to judge you cause you kissed him. Hell, I'm straight, and I would kiss him. That dude's hot," Jackson said.

Adam couldn't help but laugh a little. Even at the worst possible time, it was kind of true.

"Look, it'll be fine. He's not coming home for another month or so, and when he gets back, you'll both have it figured out. Plus, who's saying he didn't like you?" Jackson asked.

Adam looked at him, confused. Shiro didn't like him. He was obviously uncomfortable with the kiss. He was ninety-nine point nine nine percent sure Shiro didn't like him romantically. Hell, after that, he was pretty sure Shiro didn't like him platonically anymore.

"Adam, I'm not good with relationship stuff," he started, sounding more serious now.

Adam glared at him, "You're in a relationship," he pointed out, his tone sounding a little harsher than he intended.

Jackson shrugged, "Honestly I have no idea how I did that. But you know, Shiro's a good dude. He'll understand. Plus, I kinda think he likes you too." he said.

Adam shrugged, "I don't think so."

Jackson gave him a doubtful look, like he was thinking Whatever you say. "You want to go for a ride or something? Watch one of those movie things you like?" he suggested.

Adam thought about it for a moment. He was kind of tired. But then again, Jackson was right. He did need to get out of the house at some point. He only really taught, worked on paperwork, or slept anymore. "That sounds good," he decided.

Jackson smiled, "Come on, I'll buy you a coffee or a slushee or something," he said, patting his friend's back. Adam stood up and slipped a jacket over his shoulders to hide the fact he was in a pajama shirt.

Adam took one last look at the sky before closing the door.

~~~

He did admit, he felt a lot better after spending the day with Jackson. They had gotten slushees, walked around town, even checked out a local arcade, which Jackson said he and Shiro used to hit up all the time as teenagers.

Maybe we'll go there sometime, Adam had thought initially, but eventually remembered reality.

Now here he was, showered, in comfortable pajamas, getting work done. He took a sip of his iced coffee as he looked through his laptop.

Thirty-two new emails. Just great. He began to clear them out when one caught his eye.

It may have not been his professional email, but Adam recognized who the sender was instantly.

To: adam.woodford@galaxygarrison.gov  
From: gayspaceman@gmail.com  
Subject: Hey Adam

Hey Adam, it's Shiro.

I probably should have told you this sooner. It should be near Christmas for you, I think, by the time this sends. Happy Christmas then, hope you're having fun.

I know that you panicked after you kissed me. I did too. I definitely didn't expect that. not the day I was going to leave. Guess you're full of surprises, but then again, you're the guy who burns his paperwork when he gets mad and beat me at hoverbike racing, so I shouldn't have been too shocked to figure that out.

Anyway, I know you panicked, but I just want to say that it's okay. It's fine that you panicked, cause we all do things we don't mean to. Or maybe you did mean to kiss me. I don't know, not really a mind reader here. Though I can tell that you were upset when you saw my reaction.

I know you saw that I was panicked and confused. I was. I didn't expect it at all. So, I was too stunned to respond, to kiss back or to at least tell you I felt the same way.

But then my lovely amazing crewmate Samantha dragged me away, (She's reading this over my shoulder and forced me to write that, sorry,) before I could tell you that I didn't mean to freeze up.

I wanted to tell you this in person, but, I guess you should know this now. I don't want you to spend the entire time worrying about me. I still remember that weekend you lost a month's worth of paperwork and didn't sleep for three days because you were so stressed.

And I know when I get back it'll be a little weird for a few days, and I know that could have been an unintentional heat-of-the-moment type thing, and if you want to go back to being my best friend, I'm okay with that. But if you did mean to kiss me, then, well, I think I should have kissed back.

In summary: Do you want to try this again?

\- Shiro


	8. VIII- Actually He Didn't Fuck Up That Badly

Shiro could feel his heart beat louder than when he was landing the shuttle. He had almost forgot about the current situation with Adam, and had expected to go back with his roommate to finish watching some old movies and go back to life on earth.

But as he stepped out back into the blinding sun for the first time since November, Shiro remembered that it wouldn't have stayed the same as when he left.

For one, Adam liked him. The kiss was enough proof to know that fact. Or maybe it was a spur-of-the moment thing, or his feelings have calmed since then. Maybe that fact wasn't so consistent, not as much of a fact as Shiro thought.

Okay, start over. For one, Shiro liked Adam. He knew this now, but he knew it too late. For two, Adam kissed Shiro. That alone was enough to make it awkward. And for three, aside from the email that Shiro sent, the two have had no contact within the past two months whatsoever. He didn't even know if Adam got the email.

It was surprisingly warm for January. Or maybe Shiro was just used to the cold from the spacecraft. He had to steady his walking as he walked across, a couple hundred feet up from the crowd waiting to greet them

"Finally going back to your boy-toy, huh?" Samantha asked.

Shiro couldn't hold back a sigh. "He still hasn't responded," he said. He tried scanning the crowd below for Adam, but they were too high up, and brown was too common of a hair color.  _He's got to be there. Adam wouldn't miss this. Right?_

He stepped into the elevator and held his breath as they started heading back down to the ground.

Shiro felt himself running his fingers through his hair, like he was trying to adjust the small black tuft that sat on his forehead.

The elevator doors opened suddenly. Security guards had to keep everyone from flooding towards the elevator.

People yelled, chanting names, some people even held up signs. Still no familiar faces. He entered the crowd, trying to make his way through to find somebody.

"Takashi!"

He would recognize that voice anywhere. "Adam?" Shiro asked.

"Shiro! Over here!" Another familiar voice yelled.

An advantage to being tall was that you could see over all of the short people's heads. Adam and Jackson were standing near the back. Shiro ran forward to his two closest friends, giving them both a big hug.

"Shiro! It's great to see you!" Adam said, after the hug broke up.

Jackson smiled, "Dude, we've missed you!"

Shiro nodded, "It's good to be back," he answered.

There was a beat of silence. All three waited for someone else to say something. The chatter of everyone else filled the background.

"So," Adam let his voice trail off, searching for the words, "I got the email you sent."

Maybe it was just Shiro, but for some reason the temperature seemed to suddenly fall. Maybe it was how his voice dropped from cheerful to serious. "Yeah?"

Adam gave a slight smile, "Do...do you still want to try it again?" he asked.

He could feel himself relaxing. Shiro nodded, "Yeah." A smile pulled at the corners of his lips, "Yeah, that sounds great."

Adam's smile widened. His bronze eyes shone brightly.

Shiro held his arms out for a hug, to which Adam accepted and walked into Shiro's embrace. Jackson applauded in the background.

But neither of them cared, so Shiro just held Adam tightly in his arms, and the two of them even swayed slightly, to some nonexistent rhythm.

**~~~**

"Stop stressing so much, you look fine," Samantha stated, back against the floor, obviously bored out of her mind.

"You were the one who wanted us to get together anyway," Shiro stated.

She shrugged, "Now you're just making me upset that I'm single. You know if Adam has a cute brother or sister or something?"

Shiro glared at her for a moment, then shrugged, trying to sift through the closet, finding a decent-looking shirt.

"You're better at the whole fashion thing than I am, and I'm not saying that cause you're a gay guy," Samantha pointed out,"You're amazing at makeup and stuff."

Shiro shrugged, "Makeup and fashion aren't the same."

"Close enough. Both are in the beauty industry." She scrolled through her phone. Shiro wondered how she was able to do that without dropping it on her face, "Where're you two going anyway?"

"Some nice Italian restaurant in Mosquero."

She perked up at the word Italian.

"No, I'm not going to steal any garlic bread for you," Shiro said, already knowing what she was thinking. He looked at himself in the mirror, straightening out his shirt.

Samantha sighed, "Dammit. Why did you drag me here if you weren't going to pay me?"

"You were the one who came over here."

"Touchè, Shirogane."

Shiro made sure he had all of his stuff in his pockets, "Alright, I'm leaving, go back to your own dorm," he told her.

He made sure to step over her dark hair as she laid dramatically across the floor, "But your place has windows!"

Shiro opened the door and left her in there.

Adam was perched up on the countertop in the kitchen. "You ready to go?" He asked.

Shiro nodded, "Yep." He held his hand out, to which Adam took as he hopped off of the countertop.

Adam didn't let go of Shiro's hand as they walked down the halls. Eventually, they made their way outside and towards where Shiro kept the hoverbikes.

"Hope you don't mind if Jackson and I used them while you were gone," Adam mentioned as Shiro pulled one out of the garage they sat in.

"Of course not! If anything, that'll make sure they're still running well," Shiro stated as he climbed onto the bike, starting it up. Adam sat behind him, hugging himself tightly against Shiro. "You ready?"

"Definitely," Adam answered, and they sped off.

Sunset was definitely the most beautiful time to fly. Aside from nighttime, of course. The desert practically glowed orange, nearly matching the sky. The sun was behind them, meaning the sky in front were softer tones.

Shiro sped through, much faster than normal. He hummed a slight tune, wondering if it'd be worth it to try and get some sort of radio for the bike. Probably not, but it'd be fun.  
  
  


"Woodford, party of two," Adam told the hostess.

"Right this way," she said. Shiro and Adam followed as she sat them at a table by a brick wall covered in old photographs.

She placed a couple of menus on the table and left to go continue doing her job.

Adam looked through the menu, "Uhh, I guess dinner dates don't work that well when you already know eachother," he stated.

"Yeah," Shiro stated. Usually dinner dates is where you talk about your interests, but Shiro already knew all about Adam. How he loves old movies and could spend all day watching them. How he drinks so much coffee, either hot or iced, with just sugar, no creamer. How he gets upset at some inanimate objects easily, like paperwork or the coffee machine.

"What have you been up to?" Shiro asked, "Since I left?"

Adam shrugged, "Work, mainly. Jackson and I've gone hoverbiking sometimes," he answered.

"Oh." Shiro didn't know what answer he expected.

"I would ask you the same, but I guess there's not much to do in space," Adam said.

Shiro shrugged, "Yeah, not really."

A waiter set down drinks and took their orders.

Adam stirred his absentmindedly, giving his hands something to do. He always liked to be doing something with his hands, whenever he noticed it or not. Whenever it be doodling on the sides of paperwork (which Iverson definitely didn't like, but who cares,) brushing it against the couch cuchions, or tapping a beat into a piece of wood. "So, this whole dating thing. You ever do it before?"

"I had a boyfriend in high school. It didn't last that long," he answered. "So I'm still kind of new at this."

"I'd say you're doing pretty well."

Shiro chuckled slightly, "Thanks."

Adam nodded encouragingly, "Yeah, I've only dated a couple other people too."

"Guess we're figuring this out together," Shiro stated.

Adam smiled, "Yeah."

The food was set down, and they both had gotten spaghetti. They didn't talk much while eating, mainly because the food was good.

Shiro looked at the photographs on the brick wall. Some were black and white, some were color. He didn't know how long ago the black and white ones were taken, but Adam, the local 21st-century nerd, probably did.

Two people laughed in one of them. A restaurant was being opened in another. A couple ones had flowers, some others had children.

One caught his eye. A familiar building. The Garrison, back when it first opened, a few years before World War Three. He smiled at it subconsciously.

Adam was looking at the photos as well, eyes peering through his glasses' lenses. He looked happy.

The pasta bowls eventually drained as they ate, occasionally one of them making a comment to or asking a question about one or the photos.

"Would you two gentlemen like dessert?" A waiter asked, stealing their attention away from the photos lining the wall.

Shiro and Adam both nodded. "We'll take the couple's ice cream," Adam told him, "Chocolate and vanilla with fudge."

Shiro smiled at his order. Maybe it was just because he called them a couple.

A few minutes later, two spoons were set down, as well as a large dish of ice cream. Adam and Shiro lunged for the spoons.

"Race you," Shiro stated.

Adam smirked. "Eating ice cream? I'll totally win."

Shiro shoved his spoon in the ice cream, eating it as quickly as possible. Adam still seemed to move faster, though, somehow.

He knew he was getting full and would probably regret this on the way home, but he was going to eat as much of the damn ice cream as he could.

There was one small bite of chocolate ice cream left. The two made eye contact.

"You know what, you have it," Shiro decided.

"You know that means I win, right?" Adam asked.

Shiro shrugged, "I don't really care."

Adam frowned, setting his spoon down, "Eh, close enough."

The check came by, and as Adam was the one to ask Shiro out, he paid (despite Shiro's protests).

Shiro held out his hand for Adam as they left, "You want to do anything else?" he offered.

"To be honest I just want to go home and change into my pajamas," Adam admitted.

Shiro let our a huff of amusement, "I don't blame you. Let's head home." They walked back outside to where nighttime had fallen once again. Adam volunteered to drive home, so he did.

He couldn't wait to go home. The small bit of chocolate ice cream still sat on the plate, melting slowly.


	9. IX- It's Literally Just 1400 Words Of Fluff

****Adam tossed his binders filled with paperwork onto the couch and collapsed into the couch. He was fucking tired. He peered his eyes over the top of the couch, glancing between the coffee machine and the door to his room. Either he could fall asleep at seven PM or fall asleep at seven AM. 1900 or 0700, if he wanted to go by military time.

"Urgh," he muttered, and instead decided to turn face-first into the couch cushions. Stupid idea really, as his glasses now pushed into his skull. It didn't help the headache that he's had since fourth period.

He turned over to his side, and stared at the wall with the TV sitting on it. At any moment the nightly news would come on and then shut off again. It'll probably scare him a bit, like when the toast pops out of the toaster all of the sudden.

Footsteps headed over towards him, "You good there?" Shiro's voice asked. Adam turned to him. He was leaning over the couch,  his dark gray eyes looking at him affectionately.

"Yeah," he said, not aware of how groggy his voice sounded until then.

Shiro readjusted Adam's glasses, which had gotten crooked, "If you say so. Need some coffee?"

"I'm good," he muttered, covering his sight with the back of his hand. Was the lighting in here always so harsh?

Shiro, who had begun to walk away, had turned instantly back to the couch, "No coffee, seriously? Who are you and what have you done with Adam Woodford?" he asked, leaning on the back of the couch.

Adam smiled weakly, "Just kinda tired."

Shiro shrugged, "Then go to bed, idiot. No need to stay up and hang out with me."

 _But I wanna,_ his brain whined, sounding like a child. Adam sat up, his head still throbbing slightly, his vision going spotty from sitting up too fast. He shook his head slightly to try and clear it. "I'm all good," Adam dismissed his worries. He probably just needed some water. He walked over to the kitchen, grabbing a glass.

Shiro watched as he made himself a glass, and he sat down on a stool. Adam chose to sit up on the actual countertop instead, one of his favorite spots. Chairs were overrated anyway, there's perfectly good countertop right there.

Adam sipped his water slowly. Whenever you're tired water's always much tastier for some reason. There must be some science behind that or something, but his head hurts enough without having to question the mysteries of life.

"Come on, Adam, you're exhausted," Shiro said, watching as Adam took another slow sip.

"No, I'm good," Adam dismissed.

Shiro must've known there was no way he'd lose to a caffeine-deprived exhausted Adam. "Why don't we watch a movie or something? You were talking about that one movie, Love Simon, or whatever," he asked.

Adam smiled, "Yeah, it's a cute movie, and one of the first major gay movies," he said. His mom had shown him the movie when he first came out, as well as some few others.

Shiro grabbed his laptop, and started heading towards his room. "Sounds good," he said, with a smile.

"Hey, where're you going?" Adam asked, cocking his head to the side slightly.

Shiro looked back, "We're watching the movie, aren't we?" he asked.

Adam shrugged, "Yeah, but shouldn't we watch it on the TV?" he asked, pointing to the big screen on the wall.

"I'm kinda tired and I want to lay down, if I'm being honest," Shiro admitted. Fair enough. Adam set his glass of water down onto the countertop and followed Shiro.

Shiro took off his clothes and change into pajamas, and since Adam was too lazy to go to his own room to get his own, he stole one of Shiro's shirts and a pair of soft pajama pants. Plus, while Adam's a couple inches taller, Shiro's more buff, so their sizes balance out.

Shiro's shirts were comfortable, and smelled nice. It was totally cliché but Adam wanted to steal a couple for himself. He never understood that desire to take your datemate's clothing until now.

Shiro crawled under the covers, propping up a couple of pillows. Adam did the same, carving out a comfortable movie-watching spot.

"This is pretty comfortable," Adam decided, as Shiro propped the large laptop on his legs, starting to search up the movie.

Is it legal to pirate movies? Nope. But would they get kicked out of the Garrison? Probably not. Adam's about 99% sure everyone there has illegally downloaded at least something in their lives. Except for maybe Admiral Sandra, she's pretty stuck-up, and would probably brag about having never downloaded something illegally in her life.

"This is the right one, right?" Shiro asked, pointing to a movie on a only partially suspicious site.

"Yep," Adam confirmed, and leaned his head on Shiro"s shoulder while the opening scenes play, filmed through a shaky camera. Shiro put an arm around Adam's shoulder.

The two watched the movie in silence, the occasional comment from Shiro. "Is that where you get your love of iced coffee from?" He asked.

Adam shrugged, "Maybe, I don't know," he admitted. He was starting to get tired. He tried to watch the movie as much as he could, but his eyes seemed to disagree. So, he closed his eyes and listened to it like an audiobook, imagining Simon trying to figure out who Blue was.

Eventually the sound tuned out as well and he was dead asleep against Shiro's chest, steadily rising and falling.

**~~~**

"Hey, Adam," Shiro's voice rang through the room, and Adam's eyes opened slowly. The room was blurry without his glasses, but he could tell it was morning. Slivers of dim light streamed through the closed blinds.

Adam didn't respond immediately. He didn't want to admit he was awake quite yet.

"Adam," Shiro repeated, a little louder this time. There was a weight on his arm, which felt like Shiro's head resting on him. A small kiss was placed on his cheek, then another. "I know you're awake, I can see you smiling."

Adam didn't answer, but tried harder to conceal his smile.

"I have no choice, then." Shiro stated. Something cold was placed against his back. Adam lept forward, and tumbled out of bed. Shiro laughed as Adam fell onto the floor, taking the bedsheets with him.

"Takashi, you asshole," Adam muttered as he got up, but Shiro's laughter made him smile anyway. Adam flopped back into bed, and wrapped himself in the comforter.

"Come on, we've got to wake up," Shiro said, trying the comforter off of Adam

"Can we just stay in bed? Not doing that much important stuff anyway," he asked, rolling over to face Shiro. Shiro somehow looked wide awake, like he's already been up for hours. Morning people are mysteries.

Shiro frowned, "It's Thursday, we've got work."

Adam groaned. He was seriously not in the mood to wake up and face a bunch of teenagers. Even worse if he ended up going there late with a bedhead. He could already imagine that one kid asking if he  _~spent the night~_  at any guy's or girl's house, "Not again," he muttered.

Shiro huffed in amusement, "I'll make you coffee if you promise to get up while I'm doing so," he told Adam.

"Iced coffee?" he asked.

Shiro nodded, "With just enough sugar,"

"You're the best, Takashi," Adam muttered. Shiro stood up and left without an answer. How he was able to be moving so early was a mystery. Adam buried his face into the down comforter and smiled.

Adam didn't know that much about dating. This was only like his third or fourth, if you count seventh grade, rodeo. But hell, they've been together for only a couple months, and he knew that Shiro was probably his best datemate yet.

 


	10. X- Polaroid Cameras and Cats Are Two Great Gifts For A Partner

Shiro strolled through the streets of Mosquero, smiling at the desert breeze floating around. It wasn't that cold, but it was cold enough to make him wish he brought a jacket. He was just here to get some groceries, some of the stuff they didn't have at the market. Adam apparently wanted to cook some new meal his brother had sent him. Adam was pretty good at cooking, at least he was better than Shiro was.

A store with a large sign reading "Kerrie's Retro Finds" appeared out of the corner of his eye. He smiled at the shop he passed by, and considered popping his head in and seeing if they had any movies Adam would like. It was hard to find them but whenever he did Adam was over the moon — which always brought a smile to Shiro's face. Seeing his boyfriend happy was a wonderful thing.

He shrugged, and walked inside, "Hello?" He asked as the bell above the door chimed.

A woman with frizzy red hair popped her head up from behind the counter. "Hey!" She smiled, giving an enthusiastic wave, "How can I help you?"

"Uhh, I just wanted to see if there's anything my boyfriend would like in here," Shiro said, looking around the shop. There was a lot to see in the slightly dusty store, an old camera that printed actual photos, large black records and small silver discs of music, old smartphones with slightly cracked glass screens and cases still on them.

"What era does he like? Seventies? Nineties? Twenty-teens?" She asked.

Shiro turned around to face her. He jumped when he saw the redhead had sneaked up behind him, "I'm not sure," he admitted. He didn't really know there was a difference, honestly. He'd need to ask Adam. "He likes movies a lot."

She frowned, putting a finger to her chin. She was really expressive in both her movements and her movements and her outfit—a neon yellow dress with a denim jacket covered in colorful buttons and pins, "We don't have that many movies here, they all sold out a few months ago to a bunch of Garrison people for some reason."

Shiro chuckled, "Yeah, that'd be Adam's doing, he started that trend."

She smiled, "Adam? The glasses dude?—" She put two fingers up to her eyes as if she was adjusting a pair of glasses "—That's your man? You're Takashi?" She pronounced his name slowly, as if trying not to butcher the foreign word.

Shiro nodded, smiling. They may have been together for a couple months, but being called Adam's boyfriend still made him smile. "You know him?" He asked

"Yeah, he was a regular a couple months ago. Talked about you all the time! Hold on, I think I've got an idea for you two," she said, going towards the back of the shop. She came back holding a small box, in which a pastel blue Polaroid camera with a galaxy-printed case and spare blank photos and a couple music CDs sat.

He took the camera, picking it up. It was square, and pretty well-worn, a couple blemishes here and there. "How much?" He asked, observing the underside.

"Seventy—no, sixty for all of it," She stated, "Also, tell Adam to come over every once in a while, I miss the company," she admitted.

Shiro nodded, "Will do." He grabbed three twenties out of the back pocket of his pants, and handed it to her, taking the box for himself.

"Have a good day!" She yelled as he left, the bell jingling.

Shiro started heading back down the street—he parked over this way, right? He took a step forward and almost tripped on a rock or something. Thankfully, he stepped over it just in time.

But whatever he nearly tripped over started moving. Shiro looked down.

Apparently, he tripped over a cat. Shiro bent down to get a closer look at the cat. She—he? They?— were white with a brown face, paws, and tail, and bright blue eyes.

"Hey, kitty," Shiro said, stroking the cat's head, "You lost?"

The cat didn't respond. Probably because it was a cat.

The cat didn't have a collar either. He tried to recall if he had seen any lost cat posters around the city, but he doubted it. "You think Adam would mind if I got him a cat as well?"

The cat didn't respond here either. Frankly, Shiro would be pretty shocked if it did.

Shiro took one of the grocery bags on his arms and put the stuff he bought for Adam inside of it, and looped it back on his arm. He picked up the cat, who, despite how cats normally reacted to him, seemed to appreciate it.

He carried the cat over his shoulder like a baby as he started walking home. "How am I supposed to drive like this?" he muttered as he walked along the sidewalk.

**~~~**

Shiro was lucky he brought spare bags. Animals aren't allowed in the Garrison. He covered the cat with a spare grocery bag, (allowing it to breathe, of course, he wasn't a monster,) as he walked down the hallway.

He opened the door, "Hey babe, I'm home!" he announced as he opened the door. He set the bags on the table, took the grocery bag off of the cat, and carried the cat into his room, about to put it on the ground so it could roam free. He wanted to introduce the cat to Adam properly.

"Oh, hey Takashi," Adam said, lounging out on Shiro's bed. Shiro was halfway from putting the cat on the ground when he saw Adam.

_Oh. Well fuck._

"Wait, is that a cat?" he asked. Shiro, who was still holding the cat, just nodded. The cat was starting to get irritated, based on the fact it was trying to wriggle its way out of Shiro's grasp.

"Uhh..." Shiro started, trying to come up with an excuse, "It was on the streets!"

Adam smiled, and started laughing, "Really, Takashi? You catnapped a random cat?" he asked, between laughing. The cat finally escaped Shiro's grasp. It leaped onto the bed, curling up on a throw blanket.

"In my defense it didn't have a collar," Shiro pointed out.

Adam laughed, "We're not going to keep it, are we?" he asked.

Shiro nodded, "Why not?"

Adam made a small baby-sneeze, "I'm kinda allergic," he confessed.

"Oh." Shiro frowned, picking up the cat off of the bed, much to its protest, "So should we find a shelter?" he asked, disappointment lingering in his voice. He was hoping to keep the cat, but Adam was more important.

Adam shrugged, "It's not anything severe, we can keep it here for a week or so. I'll just pick up some allergy medicine tomorrow. But for future reference, you aren't allowed to bring anything home that has a pulse," he decided.

"You're the best, Adam," Shiro said, hugging his boyfriend. "Also, that reminds me, I bought you something from that retro shop in Mosquero."

Adam smiled, "Yeah, I meant to stop in and say hey to Kerrie again, but I've been busy since you've gotten back." He glanced at the pile of papers scattered on the floor, "Oh, March, the month of standardized tests."

Shiro snickered. He's been having the same issue. So many tests to grade. He grabbed the bag of stuff he bought at Kerrie's shop, and brought it into the room, placing it on the bed. "Bought these for you, I figured you'd like them."

"It's not another animal, is it?" he joked. Adam opened the bag, and pulled out the camera. He looked at it, running his finger over a small blemish. "Takashi..."

"Yeah?" Shiro asked.

Adam turned to look at Shiro, a big grin on his face, happiness shining in his bronze eyes. "I love it."

Shiro smiled, "Good."

Adam looked through the rest of the stuff, "Oh, I know that band!" he commented while picking up the CDs, "I wonder if I still have that CD player," he trailed off in thought, looking around the room, like he was trying to find the disc player.

"I'm glad you like it," Shiro said, sitting down on the end of the bed.

Adam smiled, "Are you kidding? I love it. I know that pre-III stuff is kinda pretentious, but,"

"Hey, no need to be ashamed of your interests." Shiro scooted closer to Adam, "Plus, you're cute when you talk about this stuff."

Adam chucked, blushing a little. He put a hand to the back of his neck, "Thanks?" he answered, sounding a bit more like a question.

Shiro kissed him on the nose, making Adam blush even more, "Anytime, dear."

"Hold on, I want to take a photo," Adam grabbed his new camera and some of the blank Polaroids, and held out the camera. Shiro smiled widely, holding up the cat. It wasn't pleased to be in the photo, but it stayed still.

"Three, two, one!"

A bright flash blinded Shiro for a moment, and the photo printed out. "It's all weird." Shiro pointed out, looking at the photo, in which it was mainly just blue shapes. The cat escaped again, trotting off to the kitchen.

"You've got to give it time, it'll look right in a few minutes." Adam said, setting it on the bedside table. He took a pen and wrote a small note on the white space below. Shiro smiled. He didn't understand all of this old stuff, but it made Adam happy.

"Wait, is the cat a guy or a girl?" Adam asked, looking back up at Shiro.

Shiro shrugged, "Maybe they're genderqueer," he joked.

"I meant the sex, dumbass," Adam teased in between laughter. He pushed his glasses back up on his nose, as they had begun to fall off.

Shiro sat up and went to go grab the cat again, "Girl," he announced, after picking her up. He walked back into the room, carrying the cat with him.

"Well, she's going to need a name, if she's staying here," Adam pointed out. He sneezed again, is it strange to find those little baby-sneezes cute?

"Hmm, I'm not sure. You have any thoughts?" Shiro asked. He was terrible at naming things.

Adam frowned, "I was hoping you'd have an idea," he complained.

"Kitty will do for now." Shiro decided.

Adam nodded, "Yeah, kitty will do for now."


	11. XI- Insert Cliche Carnival Scene Here

****Shiro leaned against the doorway. He doesn't get bored too often, but right now, on a strangely sweaty April day, with Adam working, all his friends busy, and him not knowing where Adam hid the stash of movies, he was _bored._

He didn't feel like picking up one of the many books that were strayed across the counter, and no paperwork needed to be done. The gym was closed and hoverbiking alone really wasn't that much fun. Nothing to do.

Shiro laid across the couch, wondering if maybe he could just fall asleep and poof! He'd wake up and he'd be able to find something to do. Only problem with that plan: he wasn't tired.

An electric pulse ran up his arm and he winced, only slightly, but he did. He had gotten a lot better at controlling his facial expressions while his electro-stimulator went off, he didn't want to make Adam worry. His bracelet gave a chorus of small beeps afterwards.

 _Why have I still hidden it from him?_ A part of Shiro's brain wondered. He wasn't ashamed of it, not really. But then again, Adam gets worried easily, and this was another thing he didn't want his boyfriend to worry about.

The door opened loudly, making Shiro jolt up from the couch. Thankfully, it was a familiar face. "Hey, guess what?" Adam asked enthusiastically as he walked inside.

Shiro's face lit up upon seeing Adam again. "What?"

He held up two slips of paper, "Well, Jackson was going to this carnival thing over in New Albuquerque, but his other friend couldn't go, so he gave us the tickets," he said. He handed one of the slips to Shiro, a wide smile on his face, "I figured we could use a night off."

Shiro smiled back, "Adam," he started.

"Yeah?"

"You're the best," he said and gave Adam a kiss on the cheek. "What time are we leaving?" Shiro asked, hoping the answer was sometime soon.

"We could go now, if we wanted."

Shiro shrugged, "Sure, why not?" he answered. He grabbed some money sitting on the table, just in case, and the two started heading down the hallways, and eventually out to the garage.

Adam led the way, for the most part. Shiro was kind of distracted, if he was being honest. Adam hopped on a hoverbike and started the engine.

"You know, we have a car, right." Shiro pointed out. "It's going to be kind of a long ride."

"Hoverbikes are fun."

Well, that was pretty sound logic. Shiro hopped onto the back, clung onto Adam's waist, and the two were off into the desert.

**~~~**

The warm, slightly humid evening air surrounded him as Shiro hopped off the back of the bike. They were in a large parking lot, but since it was Wednesday, the lot was only halfway full.

Shiro smiled at Adam, "You're getting really good," he commented. "That was the smoothest ride I've been on in a while."

"Aw, thanks," He kissed Shiro's cheek, "Don't let that think that you can get out of driving on the way home, though," Adam teased.

Shiro rolled his eyes, "Do they even sell drinks here?" He wondered out loud. Why else would Adam be concerned about whose driving?

"Don't know, but I'd probably be in a sugar crash after this anyway, so," Adam trailed off.

He'd never admit it to anyone outside Shiro, but he has a huge sweet tooth. Shiro only knows because he got a discounted bag of candy and the next day all of it was missing, and there were wrappers littering the nightstand on Adam's side of the bed.

"Fair enough," Shiro answered. He felt Adam wrap his fingers around Shiro's hand, and smiled to himself.

He took his ticket out of his pocket, and the two went to go wait in line to get in. "So, uhh, how was work?" He offered, not sure what kind of conversation they should have.

"Long, as usual. The little gremlins in second period somehow managed to make me talk about my life for half of class instead of what they actually need to learn," He admitted.

Shiro nodded, "I have a student who always tries to do that," He admitted.

Adam nodded understandingly. The two had moved up the line, and handed the tickets to the person collecting them, and started walking inside.

It was a large boardwalk-type place, though it was over a large lake instead of an ocean, as there were no oceans for miles. String lights were string all around, between lamp posts and rides and stands selling food. They weren't quite turned on yet, it was still just late afternoon.

"Hey," Adam said. He pointed to the ice cream stand, a small stand which had a red overhang for shade. "You want anything?"

"I'm good, thanks," Shiro responded. Ice cream was good, yeah, but it wasn't healthy at all.

Adam pouted slightly, looking longingly at the ice cream stand. He mouthed something under his breath.

"Go get one for yourself," He told Adam, nudging him slightly towards the ice cream stand. "I'll stay here."

"I'm not waiting in that line just to get myself something."

Shiro rolled his eyes, but in a more playful way than anything. "Alright, fine," he said. He held Adam's hand tighter as Adam started pulling him towards the ice cream stand.

"You want mint, right?" Shiro asked, pulling out money from his back pocket.

Adam smiled, "You know me so well."

"We've been dating for four months, by this point I sure hope I do." Shiro answered. He told the girl working at the stand for two double-scooped ice creams, one mint chocolate chip and another vanilla and chocolate.

"That'll be $7.75, sir." she told Shiro as Shiro handed her a ten dollar bill.

"Sir? You that old already?" Adam teased, playfully nudging Shiro. Shiro could not come up with a good retort to save his life. Technically, he was a year older than Adam, which Adam uses frequently to tease Shiro. Unless...

No. Adam would use it against him. He made the mistake of telling Jackson he was a leap year baby and now Jackson doesn't stop calling him a five year old.

"Here's your ice cream," she said, handing them both a cone with a paper wrapping. Adam immediately took a lick of it, making sure none of it melted and dripped down onto the cone.

Shiro took a lick of his own. The sweet vanilla and chocolate definitely made him glad he got ice cream. Though he now did regret not getting sprinkles, they should have gotten rainbow sprinkles on theirs, cause they're gay. "Let me take some of yours," Shiro said, reaching over to taste some of Adam's ice cream.

Adam held his ice cream cone high above their heads, "You have your own, jackass," he said.

He frowned, "It looks good though. I'll give you some of mine." Shiro offered, a fair trade.

Adam stared into the distance, like he was contemplating the decision. "Fine," he said. He took a big lick of his own ice cream, and kissed Shiro right on the mouth.

The mint chocolate chip ice cream was pretty good.

Shiro smiled at Adam, "Not what I meant but it works." he stated. "You are so cheesy."

"You love it, though."

Shiro nodded, "I do," he confirmed. Adam was a cheeseball, no doubt about it, but his overly- clichéd actions were actually really sweet.

Shiro finished up his ice cream first, crunching on the cone.

"Let's take a photo," Adam suggested, after he finished wiping the ice cream off his hands. Shiro hadn't noticed it before, but Adam had the galaxy-printed camera bag slung around his shoulders. He pointed to the edge of the boardwalk, "Right by the water."

Shiro nodded, and Adam wrapped his arm around Shiro as they posed for the camera, the light from the sun just staring to set shining on their faces as they smiled, staring at the light blue camera.

Adam took a photo real quick, and then another. "Here," He said, handing Shiro one of the small photos.

"It's black," Shiro pointed out, examining the photo.

"It hasn't developed yet," Adam pointed out, "Give it a minute."

Shiro watched as shapes slowly began to form in the photo, trying to make out their faces and the carnival scenery behind them.

**~~~**

Over the course of the day, the two have rode almost every ride (except for the freefall, which Adam was slightly terrified of,) played many of those rigged games which nobody wins, and won nothing, and probably both ate their weight in popcorn and cotton candy.

As the sky fell dark, families and people slowly started to drain out, probably going out to eat or just home for the night.

"Hey, let's go up there." Adam said, pointing to the ferris wheel, which was still rolling. String lights were wrapped around each of the seats, making it look magical.

Shiro had to stop himself before he started laughing, "Isn't that a scene from like every one of your old movies?"

"Hey, for one, it's only in the romance ones, and two, we'll get a better view of the fireworks. They're supposed to go off at seven thirty." he pointed out.

"So this is not just to have a dramatic kiss at the top."

Adam smiled over at Shiro, "I never said that," He teased.

The two stood in line for one last time. The first firework went off over the lake, the loud noise making Shiro tense up for a moment.

Eventually, as they watched fireworks explode in the moon-lit sky above, they were able to get onto the ferris wheel. Adam slid into the seat first, and Shiro followed. They started heading up as the next group of people got on.

Adam stared out at the fireworks with wonder on his face, watching the night sky light up with millions of colors. Shiro watched Adam instead, looking at the moonlight shining off his hair and skin and the metal rims of his glasses. Honestly, he was more amazing than any of the colors in the sky.

He felt a weight in his chest, but not like a sinking feeling. Like something was tugging, more so, and he felt warm despite the temperature falling with the night.

Shiro rested his head on Adam's shoulder. This must be what love was like. At least, if Shiro had to guess. He just wanted to take the photo in his pocket and live in this moment forever.

Adam looked up at the sky, "Beautiful, isn't it." He asked, looking out as a green firework exploded, lighting up the dark.

"You're such a sap," Shiro teased, "I bet this is why you took me here in the first place." he said, pointing to the ferris wheel.

He smiled, "I can't confirm or deny that." The full moon above made his bronze eyes almost look like they glowed, and the sky was reflected in his glasses. And fireworks kept lighting up the night sky, one after another, in every color either of them could even imagine.


	12. XII- Children! They're Adorable. And Very, Very, Exhausting

****Adam sat perched on the freezing cold countertop, sipping a mug of coffee. The dawn was just barely showing up over the rusty clay cliffs. Why he was up at the asscrack of dawn? He didn't know. It was cold and he was tired.

Well, he did, but why he agreed to it was beyond him. Shiro had signed them up for a mentor program to watch over some of the young kids who came to visit the Garrison. Adam agreed at the time, not realizing that the tours started at seven thirty in the morning, meaning he had to be there to start setting up at six. And by younger, they meant kids who were just barely not toddlers. Apparently it was to "raise the younger generation into space expedition."

"Are you seriously drinking coffee straight from the pot," Shiro asked, staring at Adam.

Adam nodded, looking down at his straight-black coffee. He hadn't even bothered to put ice in it. "You woke me up at five," he pointed out.

"Can I at least have a sip?" Shiro asked, leaning his head against Adam.

Adam passed Shiro the mug of coffee. Mornings in general were hard, but waking up two hours earlier than normal was especially hard.

Kitty passed through the kitchen, woken up by all the noise. They never decided on an official name, so they just called her Kitty. After two months, nobody had called about a lost cat, but they tried not to get too desperately attached to Kitty, just in case one morning that phone call did come through. Pets weren't allowed in the Garrison either way, so they both knew that one day they would have to let Kitty go.

Shiro reached down and scratched her head of black fur, "Hey, kitty," he whispered to her.

If Adam had a camera, he'd definitely take a photo. Shiro's hair was messy and he looked tired and disheveled from sleep, but here he was, holding a coffee pot and petting a cat. The light was just starting to stream in, making everything in the room blue.

Unfortunately, his camera was in the "storage room," or better known as Adam's old bedroom, so the moment just had to do.

Shiro grabbed two bowls and started making cereal for them. Adam just grabbed the coffee and hoped that the black liquid would revive him from his exhaustion.

Adam was tired and there was going to be a lot of children. Today was going to be a long day.

**~~~**

"Each of you will find one of the adults to be a buddy with, who will then show you around the garrison!" Officer Sayden announced, a younger perky blonde lady. "Once you find your buddy, you can sit down on the ground so we know you have a buddy."

The kids all started to wander off, finding a partner. Many of the children found someone who looked similar to them, which was kind of cute in a way, like they were siblings.

Adam felt a tug at his pant leg. He turned around and looked down at a pair of short, red-haired girls, both of whom were wearing big glasses. They must have been twins, they looked so alike, the only difference was their hair, "Excuse me, sirs?" one of them, the one in pigtails, asked.

"Yeah?" Adam asked.

"Could we be your buddies?" the other asked. She had a braid, instead of pigtails.

Adam and Shiro both exchanged a look, and if they were sharing the same thoughts, they were both probably thinking,  _holy fuck, this is way too adorable._

"Of course," Shiro said, kneeling down to be at eye-level with the kids, "I'm Takashi, but you can call me Shiro. This is my boyfriend, Adam."

One of the girls gasped, the one in pigtails. "Boys can have boyfriends?" she asked, looking like a whole new world of opportunities has been introduced to her.

Adam smiled, "Of course, just like how boys have girlfriends, or girls have girlfriends!"

The one wearing a braid smiled, "So I can have a girlfriend if I wanted?"

Shiro nodded, "Definitely."

"When we get older we should both marry girls!" She exclaimed, smiling at her sister.

"I'd rather marry a boy," the girl in pigtails admitted, looking at the ground, "Or maybe a girl as well. I'm not sure."

Adam smiled, thinking of how his younger self thought the same, "Hey, and that's perfectly fine too. You aren't getting married tomorrow."

She smiled at him, and suddenly gasped softly, "We forgot to say our names!" The girl in pigtails exclaimed, "I'm Mia, and that's Ava!"

Officer Sayden walked by the four of them, and kept looking around, "So has everyone found their partner?" she asked.

A loud hum of acknowledgment came from all the kids, one that was strangely coordinated. Could six and seven-year-olds seriously be that coordinated?

"Great! Your buddies know which group you are in, and the red groups will go on the tour first, and then the blue groups!" How she was that perky at eight in the morning was a question that no existing religious deity could answer.

Adam whispered to Shiro, "Which group were we again?"

Shiro shrugged, "Red, I think," he said.

Ava smiled, "So we get to go on the tour first?"

Adam nodded, "We sure do."

The two girls smiled, and stood up, "Let's go!" they both chorused, and after Adam and Shiro stood as well, they were off.

The tour was only supposed to take half an hour at most, just to make sure the kids wouldn't get bored, because kids get bored easily. After the tour would be a lunch break, an activity period, and then there's the flight demonstrator.

"Over here is some classes, where I teach," Shiro said, pointing out his classroom. Room 0287B. Adam's been inside of Shiro's classroom, and it's quite organized, there wasn't much in there.

"I don't like class." Ava complained, "You have to learn math."

"You'd hate Adam's class. You have to learn about math and physics," Shiro teased..

Ava looked at Adam, betrayal spread across her tiny, freckle-coated face. "I thought I got a cool buddy." The rejection in her voice hurt more than it should have.

Adam glanced at Shiro. He mouthed, "What do I say?"

He shrugged in response. Well, that was useless.

 _What are cool things I can do. One, cook, but they probably won't think it's that cool. Two..._ He had no idea. Maybe piloting? But everyone here was a pilot of some sort. Coming up with skills you have is hard.

They passed by a window, overlooking the rusty red cliffs, the ones that Shiro and Adam hoverbike over.

Wait. That was perfect. "Well, I can ride a hoverbike. One time I flew right off the edge of a cliff," He offered, hoping the kids would think it was cool.

"Really?"

"Yeah. It was dangerous but really fun. Anyway, over here is a view of the launch station," Adam said, pointing through a large glass window, where the main launch station was visible.

The twins ran up to the glass, pressing their tiny hands and faces up against it. "Woah," they both said in sync.

"If you become a pilot, you can fly one of those things," Shiro stated, "We've both been in space before, not at the same time, but still."

After five minutes of the girls squishing their face against the windows (and leaving smears,) they were able to carry on with the tour.

"I like your glasses Mister Adam, they're cool," Mia commented out of the blue, "They make you smart."

Adam smiled, giving a huff of amusement. Sometimes he felt anything but, but her enthusiasm was adorable, "Thanks," he answered.

Shiro grabbed Adam's glasses, placing them upside-down on his own nose, "Hey, I can be smart too!"

The girls started laughing hysterically. Adam couldn't see shit, so they kept walking. Thankfully, Adam was quite familiar with this section of the Garrison, so he kept walking forwards.

"Adam, over here," Shiro said, placing a hand on Adam's shoulder.

Adam looked around all squinty-eyed, "Yeah?" He saw a blurry outline of Shiro and the twin girls, and started heading over there.

"He's pretty much blind without his glasses," Shiro whispered loudly, probably to Ava and Mia, based on the sound of two girls giggling.

"I'm quote-unquote  _blind,_  not deaf, Takashi," Adam said, sticking a hand out to grab his glasses away from Shiro.

"What did he call you?" Ava asked. It was easy to tell when Ava was talking, her voice was a lot louder and higher-pitched than Mia's.

"Takashi. It's my full first name," Shiro explained, "It's easier to say Shiro, but since we're boyfriends, Adam calls me Takashi."

"So like a nickname?" Mia asked.

Ava squinted, trying to sound it out. "Tack-ash-ee?"

"Tah-kah-shi."

"Tah-caw-shi?"

Shiro nodded, smiling, "That's pretty much perfect."

Ava grinned a wide, toothy smile.

Shiro really was amazing with kids. He was so fatherly with them, so calm and patient, it was now one of his favorite things to watch. It just made him feel so happy, like how he felt falling for Shiro.

They were back at the room before they even noticed. The twins went up to grab their lunch, and Adam and Shiro sat at a kiddie-sized table.

"You're amazing with kids, you know," Adam commented.

Shiro shrugged, "Well, I do teach them every day," he pointed out, "You were also good with them."

"Yeah, but it was awkward for me. You just were able to naturally connect with them. I can talk with adults, not kids."

"Really?"

Adam nodded, "Yeah."

The two redheaded twins came bouncing back, holding a granola bar, sandwiches, and Apple slices. Adam resisted the urge to turn up his nose at the sandwiches, he could not stand the smell of peanut butter for some reason.

"What are you guys eating?" Ava asked.

"Adam brought food. He's a good chef," Shiro stated. He dug his hand into the bag of snacks Adam brought, grabbing a salad in a plastic container.

Adam opened the bag, "I also brought some treats for you guys," he said, giving each of them a baggy with two chocolate and cream cookies, and some chips.

The two girls gasped, ripping open the bag of treats.

"Just be sure to eat your healthy foof first. You can't be a weak space pilot," Shiro encouraged. His smile dropped for a moment.

The two girls scrambled to finish their snacks so they could get their hands on the cookies and chips.

Adam sighed, leaning back in the colorful chair. He whispered to Shiro, "If we ever get a kid, we aren't getting a young one." The twins, yes, were amazing, but Adam was exhausted, and it was only noon. His parents were miracle-workers.

Shiro nodded, but froze, "A kid?" he asked, a look of panic on his face. What was Shiro nervous about? He was such a mom-friend, and he was great with kids. Which was surprising, considering Shiro never had any little siblings, and wasn't close with his little cousins.

But then again Adam had his little sister and brothers and he was shit with kids. He shrugged, "Hence the if."

Shiro shrugged, "We have a while to think about it, anyway. I'm not leaving you anytime soon."

Adam smile back, "Good."


	13. XIII- A Stormy Haze

It was one of those mornings where it was hard to tell if you were awake or asleep, because either way, it didn't really matter. Adam was nestled in Shiro's arms, surrounded by the warmth of his boyfriend and blankets.

 

Light streamed through the window, it was hard to believe it was almost June. Soon, they'll be able to sit and relax for three months without a care in the world, unless of course, one of them has a mission. Adam, for one, was thankful that he was going to be able to lie around, eat chips, and watch movies all summer with Shiro. Well, maybe not all summer, but a pretty good majority of it.

 

Though, the idea of going on a vacation would be nice. Adam hasn't visited his family in DC, and Shiro's mentioned going to Japan to see his family once or twice. Or, maybe they could go somewhere entirely different, like take a roadtrip to California to visit all the amusement parks, and Adam's always wanted to check out the beaches.. He closed his eyes and relaxed again, daydreaming of vacations, but it didn't last for long. Shiro slowly crawled out of bed from behind him, and started grabbing clothes to change into.

 

"Come back to bed," Adam was comfortable, and Shiro's run shouldn't have interrupted their cuddle time

 

"I can't," he admitted.

 

It was seven in the morning, where could Shiro even be headed? "Where are you off to so early?" Adam asked, blinking the exhaustion out of his eyes as he turned to face Shiro.

 

Shiro shrugged, and glanced off to the side, "Nowhere important," he stated. He started changing into normal clothes, and walked around the room absentmindedly, looking for something.

 

Adam narrowed his eyes. That was probably the most suspicious sounding lie he's ever heard. Shiro really wasn't good with lies. "You sure?" he asked. Shiro wasn't the type to cheat, definitely not.

 

He nodded, "Yeah, just to go buy food," he dismissed casually. He found the thing he was looking for, which was apparently his jacket.

 

"Thought we went shopping yesterday," Adam asked. They didn't even go to the Garrison's mini-mart, they went all the way out to Mosquero. "Did we forget something?"

 

Shiro nodded, "Yeah, just eggs, and we're getting low on coffee."

 

Right, so we did forget something yesterday. Adam was sure they had forgotten to pick something up from the store. They were tired from spending all day with Ava and Mia, and then Adam had a meeting, and Shiro had a class to substitute for, so it'd make sense they forget something small like eggs.

 

That still doesn't make up for the fact it was seven in the morning. "Can't it wait? We have cereal, and some coffee."

 

"I'll bring you back a pack of M&Ms," Shiro promised.

 

Adam smiled, resting his head back against the pillow. "You're the best, Takashi," he murmured sleepily.

 

"I'll be back," he promised as he opened the door. He left again, without another word.

 

~~~

 

Adam didn't bat an eye when Shiro was gone for half an hour. He probably went to Mosquero instead of the Garrison mini-mart. Plus, Mosquero's mart sold the coffee Adam liked, and M&Ms, and maybe Shiro was determined to uphold that promise.

 

He was a bit confused when Shiro was gone for an hour. But then again, maybe he had to pick up a couple extra things from the store, maybe the checkout line was long. Plus, Mosquero is a while away from the Garrison, and he was probably going by road, not cutting through the desert on a hoverbike.

 

The second hour is when Adam's suspicions were raised. Where did he go that it would take a whole two hours to buy groceries? There couldn't have been that much traffic on a Sunday morning, and it's not like there would be any point in going to the next town over.

 

Adam decided to combat his worries then by getting up and making some food for himself, and he started drafting out some final exam review sheets. If one thing is bothering him, just let another thing bother him until the first thing stops bothering him.

 

He found himself glancing at the clock too often, though. Looking up to see ten minutes passed, another thirty minutes, more and more time. Any calls he made, Shiro didn't answer.

 

 _Where are you? It's been three hours_ , he texted, hoping Shiro would pick up.

 

Shiro doesn't just disappear like this. The closest he's ever gone to fading off the surface of the planet is when he comes home late from work every once in a while.

 

He eventually stopped calling Shiro, and called Jackson instead, "Hey, you know where Takashi is?" Adam asked.

 

"No idea, sorry," Jackson answered, "Why?"

 

Adam shrugged, "He disappeared this morning randomly."

 

"Huh. That's weird," he said.

 

No shit, Sherlock. Before Adam could actually say that out loud, he responded, "Thanks anyway," and hung up.

 

Adam chose to scroll through his other contacts, finding someone else to call who knew Shiro pretty well. It also passed the time, he didn't realize how many classmates he still had from highschool and college saved in his phone.

 

Eventually, he found the right person. Samantha. Adam didn't know her too terribly well, but she and Shiro still hang out pretty often. Adam clicked and called her instead. "Hey, Samantha?" he asked, and immediately cringed at how nervous he sounded.

 

"Hey, what's up?" She asked.

 

"Do you know where Takashi is?" Adam asked. Where

 

There was a loud pop, like she was chewing bubblegum, "Lost your boytoy?" she asked, her voice full of snark as per usual.

 

"Yeah, I guess." Adam would never admit it out loud, but the fact Shiro is friends with someone as unprofessional as Samantha is hilarious to him. They were almost polar opposites.

 

"Sorry, bud, haven't seen him. Why?"

 

"He left at seven and still isn't back," Adam admitted. It was eleven now, almost four hours.

 

She made an "eesh" noise. "Yeah, I don't think Shiro's the type to cheat, but that shit's hella suspicious. He say where he went?" she ask.

 

"Grocery store."

 

"And he's still not back? Dude, you've gotta call him. He could be abducted by aliens or some shit," she told him. How does one person swear so much in a single conversation is a mystery to him, and Adam's the guy who has written "What the fuck" on students essay multiple times.

 

"You think I haven't tried?" Adam asked, wincing at the harshness of his tone.

 

"Dude, calm your tits," Samantha scolded.

 

"Sorry, just, I'm tired and haven't had enough coffee," Adam admitted. He buried his head in his left hand, using the other to hold the phone up. He wanted to just pass out on the couch and wake up later when Shiro was back, but he was too nervous to do so, because what if he wasn't back?

 

"Hey, we've all been there. Just relax, he'll be home soon enough."

 

He sighed. "Yeah, I guess. Thanks."

 

"No problem, tell me when your boytoy gets back though, I need to kick his ass for ditching you randomly," Samantha promised.

 

Adam snickered, then realized there was a chance she wasn't joking. "Thanks."

 

"Seeya," she said, and hung up.

 

Adam fell against the couch. He just wanted to know if Shiro was safe or not. Mosquero doesn't necessarily have the lowest crime rate, and the more he thought about it the more his head hurt. Shiro had to be okay. He had to.

 

~~~

 

Hours passed and Shiro still wasn't home. It was almost night. Adam kept his eyes on the local news, bracing for the worst. Local Man Killed In Crash. Garrison Officer Shot In Robbery. No matter what he tried to think about, his brain always rewired to Shiro's possible death.

 

He's been trying to keep himself at ease, watching movies, reading, looking through the internet, anything that would take his mind off of it, all the while telling himself he's overreacting and Shiro will be fine, he's sure of it.

 

Finally, the door creaked open and Adam didn't even have to look up to know who it was. "Takashi," he said, looking up at Shiro.

 

The look on Shiro's face left so much to be explained. Fear, unease, like something he's long since dreaded came to the surface. "I'm sorry, Adam, I can explain."

 

He breathed, "Do explain, then," he stated, still holding himself together. He was part angry and part relieved, part angry because Shiro had just left for almost the whole day without telling Adam a thing, and relieved because he was here now; all of which just resulted in him being strangely neutral.

 

"I—" He looked around, trying to search for the best words. "I was at the doctor's."

 

Adam blinked, confused. "Why would you have to lie about the doctors? Plus, isn't there's one on the Garrison's grounds."

 

"I have to go to a different one."

 

Adam didn't ask why, everyone's allowed their secrets. He was still wondering, though.

 

"I guess I should just explain everything now," he said. He rubbed his bracelet around his wrist as he spoke.

 

"I have this, this illness." Shiro admitted, his voice pained. He looked away from Adam, looking away from his sight, like he was ashamed of it. "Sarcopenia. It basically means as I get older I'll lose control of my muscles, and I won't be able to do a thing about it. And I'll die."

 

Adam didn't know what to say. He registered the words which Shiro were saying. He won't be able to walk, he won't be able to do anything. Instead of fully processing them, he focused on his face, the way his hair fell into a tuft on his forehead, the shallow bridge of his nose, the dark gray of his eyes, like the night sky back in New York, light enough to still see.

 

I can't lose him. It was hard for him to notice at first. The nights where they watched the stars, the flights they took around the desert, every photograph Adam has tucked in his bedside drawer. He was there. He was everything. He was Takashi. And Adam...

 

Adam was in love with Takashi.

 

He was still talking, and Adam could see how tired talking about it made him. How dark his eyes looked, like he's lost sleep over just the conversation. How his face fell further every word he spoke. Adam placed a hand on Shiro's shoulder. "It's okay. Takashi, it's all okay. You're here, you're alive, you're going to be okay." He pulled Shiro closer into a hug, sitting there, just on the couch, just them together in silence.

 

Adam felt it as Shiro took a deep breath, "The problem is, I'm not."

 

Shiro was still tense, and every breath he took felt too shallow or too deep, like he's trying too hard to make sure his breathing is steady.

 

"You will be," Adam murmured, trying not just to comfort Shiro, but himself. He couldn't lose Shiro. He couldn't. "Why didn't you tell me, though?" Adam asked. "I want to be there for you."

 

He took another deep breath. Adam feared he may have shoved too hard, that he should have just let Shiro be, but the match was already lit. "I was afraid you would stress over this too much, and even more, I was afraid you would leave."

 

Adam let go of Shiro, so he could look him in the eyes. "Takashi," he started, his voice trailing off.

 

He looked so broken in this moment, so vulnerable. Shiro was always strong, always optimistic, always the one to say that there'll be a solution. But now he wasn't, and Adam was. "I promise you I won't leave over this. I will never leave you."

 

He looked back at Adam, "You're going to watch me die one day, Adam. I don't want you to have to do that."

 

Adam wrapped Shiro back into a hug once again. "I'll stand by you every day if I have to," he promised.

 

Barely even a whisper, "Why?"

 

The answer was one he didn't even have to think about. "I love you."

 

Shiro's been so tired, so tense. He's been nervous and uncomfortable the entire time they were talking. But he finally relaxed. He let himself fall into Adam's open arms, and they sat together, holding onto each other like it they were the only things they had left.

 

"I love you, Takashi. I always will."

 

~~~

 

_In a haze, in a stormy haze,_

_I'll be round, I'll be loving you always._

_Always._

 

 

 

 

 


	14. XIV- A Little Adventure

****In general, this was one of those days that were so crazy it felt like the twenty four separate hours were twenty four days.

For Shiro, today started off pretty standard. He woke up, showered, got dressed, ate breakfast (with a concerned Adam reminding him to take his pills), and left off to go to work. He was going to a school about an hour away to teach the kids about the Garrison. He hasn't done it in a while, and he's heard great things about the students at that particular school.

The first class was pretty standard, there was nothing too exceptional from any of those students. They were all amazing, of course, but nothing notable that made Shiro raise an eyebrow.

However, things didn't start to change until the next class he spoke to.

"I've brought a special guest with me today, I'm sure you'll recognize him. He's the youngest pilot to ever lead a mission into space, Takashi Shirogane!" the teacher introduced, a middle aged woman with hair pinned into a bun.

"Thanks for having me," Shiro said with a smile.

"Shiro just broke the record for fastest orbital velocity, beating the old heliocentric speed by about fifty kilometers per second," she informed, but her talking was lost to the students, who were talking among themselves in excited whispers.

"The Galaxy Garrison sent me to schools in the area to help find the next generation of astro explorers," Shiro explained. Everyone was silent again as Shiro spoke, all of the thirteen-to-fourteen year olds looking up at him excitedly. "Who's ready to find out if they've got what it takes?"

Almost every kid in the class raised their hand excitedly, asking to be chosen.

Shiro smiled. This was what he loved about this part of the job, seeing how excited all of them were. "Alright, alright. Well, in order to do that, we're going to give you a test—" The other best part about the job was seeing how much their faces fell the second after Shiro said the word test. "—By playing a video game."

Everyone perked back up again. It was strangely funny seeing how they went from a hundred to zero and back to a hundred in a second. Shiro knew for sure Adam found it funny, maybe it's rubbed off on him.

Shiro looked around the room, and one kid caught his eye, sitting in the corner, staring out the window, like a protagonist in the high school movies he and Adam watches. But he didn't focus for too long, as everyone was already starting to leave their seats to go.

**~~~**

The second to last kid had just failed the simulation, after level two. Kid after kid had kept crashing, but Shiro was still optimistic. According to the list, there was still one kid left, the one in the red jacket he noticed earlier. Keith Kogane.

"We've had some great tries, but nobody's made it past the third level yet." Shiro looked over at Keith, who was sitting on a rock by the ground, his back turned to everyone else. He looked like he was the only one alone, everyone else had a friend to chat to except him.

"Looks like you're the only one who's left," The kid turned around, looking a little shocked, like he was baffled Shiro even payed him any attention, "Think you've got what it takes?"

He stood up, and nodded, without a word. He walked into the simulator, and everyone else crowded around. Keith made it past the first level. Then the second, third, and fourth. Everyone got more and more surprised as he kept going further, further than any of his classmates.  _He's good at this._

"The emo kid's doing it!" one kid yelled in excitement.

He sped up even more, and kept dodging the asteroids, making spins and turns Shiro didn't even consider until he was seventeen. Eventually a blue message appeared on the screen.  _Level Five Complete._

One of the other kids peered over his shoulder in shock, "No way. Keith made it past level five? Thing's got to be broken."

The teacher handed Shiro a blue tablet. "I compiled a list of students who I think would be the best candidates for the Garrison," she said.

Shiro glanced at the list, seeing some familiar names. He looked back over at Keith, who was working on level six, "Is this guy on there? Looks like he's just about ready to fly the real thing."

"Keith?" She asked, a bit of bitterness and shock to her tone, "He's a bit of a discipline case. I don't think he'd necessarily fit in with the rigid Garrison culture."

She motioned another student over, the one who made the snide comment about the machine, "This is James Griffin, he has the highest grades in school."

He smiled, "It's an honor to meet you, Mister Shirogane."

A noise played as the simulator died in the background, but that was the least of his concerns. Shiro turned around to the noise of a car starting up, and suddenly his car was driving away and Keith was gone.

"Is that your car?"

**~~~**

They had finally caught Keith, who did, in fact, steal Shiro's car. Shiro knew he was going to bail Keith out of the juvenile detention center he was being held in, but not right then. For now, he had something more important to do first.

"Is this where I pick up the adoption forums?" Shiro asked, knocking on the already opened door to announce he was in the room. It wasn't the cleanest adoption center, and he'd even say it's kind of sketchy, the place where people dump orphans because they have nowhere else to house them. But, it was where he was told Keith was staying.

"You want to adopt?" the receptionist asked in a harsh voice. She looked like one of those bitter old ladies who always seemed to be receptionists, and sounded like it too

"Yes."

"You have a wife?" she asked, still incredibly monotonously.

Hopefully she wasn't homophobic, "Boyfriend, actually," Shiro stated.

She hummed, like she was considering the options. "Not married. Sign the papers," she said, shoving a tablet with paperwork at him.

It was definitely a lot of paperwork, probably even more than the papers he had to sign when going on a mission. Terms and conditions usually all say the same thing but with different words, but even then Shiro made sure to read this one a little more closely than normal, and he's one of the few people who actually read the terms and conditions.

He had a place to keep Keith, Adam's old bedroom, a secure financial system. He attached files on his career, he confirmed he didn't have a criminal record. The more he read into it, the more he was suspicious of the adoption center, the more he was anxious to get Keith out of it. It would be so easy to fake some paperwork and for someone sketchy to come in and take any of the kids here.

Unfortunately, Shiro couldn't take all of them. He wasn't sure if he could take this one.

Eventually, he finished with the paperwork, and handed the tablet back to the receptionist. He was ninety percent sure she was spending her time scrolling through social media at this point. "Assuming you want  to go look at the kids," she said, still in a grumpy tone. Shiro nodded, and she yelled for someone named Riley over the intercoms.

A couple minutes later, a different woman popped her head into the doorway, "Erm... Te- no, Taikahshi Shirogane?" she asked, and looked around, likely embarrassed at how bad she butchered his name.

Shiro cringed internally at the terrible punctuation, but tried to keep his face straight as possible, "Shiro is fine."

"Thank you," she said, and they walked along in silence. Hallways of white, like a hospital, and all Shiro was thinking was how bad it would be growing up here. Home, he's always had a family and a warm bed. But here, all the kids have are the stiff, uncomfortable-looking bunk beds he spies through the door frames, and the harsh white lighting of the walls in every room.

"So, what age range are you looking to adopt?" she asked, clicking a pen and making notes on her paper, "I know that most gay couples tend to look for toddler-aged children, so they can raise a child without having to worry about breastfeeding," she said.

Shiro didn't know how true that was, but wasn't there formula for that very purpose? That point aside, "I'm looking for a specific child, actually," Shiro admitted. "His name is Keith Kogane."

She looked a little surprised, making a small hum like she was thinking over it, "Any reason why? Most want to adopt a younger kid, and definitely not one as..." She trailed off, "Rebellious, would be the best way to put it."

"I met him while working, I go on tours to teach kids about my job, and Keith so happened to strike my interest." Shiro admitted. If he wanted to get Keith adopted, he definitely wouldn't tell her that Keith stole his car. She'd probably find out anyway, but Shiro was determined.

"Well, he's not here right now. I'll tell him your interest in adopting him when he comes back, and you and him can meet up somewhere and talk about it. You're in a long term relationship with your boyfriend, right?" she asked.

Shiro nodded. He considered six months to be at least on the verge of long term. Maybe it was shorter than he thought, but he hasn't dated many people before Adam.

"Bring him as well. Don't want you breaking up over this," she commented.

Shiro nodded again, "I already planned on it," he admitted. He kept trying to mentally write what his conversation will be tonight.  _I found this orphan..._ No... _I want to adopt a kid..._ Not quite... _I met this kid while working today._ He just knew that he'd have to tell Adam that it's okay to keep Keith in the dorms (he checked the rules—as long as they are legally family and either stay in the dorms or go home when the school year begins again, it's fine.)

Riley, her name was? She looked around the hallway, like she was searching for what to say. "Now, like I said, Keith is a rebellious kid. Are you sure you don't want—"

Shiro shook his head, "No, I'm good. I see something in him, I think he just needs a family to help him learn," He admitted.

He didn't know why he saw so much in Keith. Any sane person wouldn't help the kid who stole their car. He could say it was because Keith was talented, But it wasn't just that. Keith  was lonely, and he looked like he should have a happier life. He just needs a support system, a family and a friend. And maybe, just maybe, someone to teach him that he shouldn't steal a random guy's car.

She gave him a doubtful nod, and told him he should tell Keith to meet up with him tomorrow for breakfast, and dismissed him.

**~~~**

It took another hour, but Shiro eventually was able to let Keith out of his holding cell. Someone already called a driver for Keith to get back to the adoption center.

The two were walking outside when Keith finally spoke up. "I don't get it. I steal your car and you respond by helping me out?" he asks. It was the first time Shiro heard him speak.

Shiro climbed into the car. "Yeah, so you owe me one." He handed Keith a small business card, one with his and Adam's favorite restaurant in Mosquero. It would be the perfect place for him and Adam to meet. "Meet me at this address at 0800 hours tomorrow," he told Keith as he was buckling into his car.

He looked up, even more confused than he was earlier, so Shiro explained it for him, "You're getting a second chance."


	15. XV- Lose A Cat, Gain A Child

Adam did not know at all what to expect. Certainly not his boyfriend to tell him he adopted a child. "Takashi. I told you when we adopted Kitty. No bringing home anything with a pulse."

Shiro sighed, "I know, but Keith's a good kid. He'd be a great cadet, and he'll only stay with us until the school year." he pointed out. "That reminds me, I got a call about Kitty. I think her owners finally found the flyer."

Adam felt both oddly relieved and a little disappointed. Despite trying his best not to, since pets weren't even allowed in the Garrison, he's grown attached to Kitty. Sure, it was a pain whenever there was routine and surprise inspections in their wing (Usually because his neighbor is constantly high and weed isn't allowed in the Garrison.) But he's grown to love Kitty, even on days he forgets to take his allergy medications. "So, did the owners tell us where to find them?"

"Yeah. They live up in Mosquero." Shiro said.

Kitty trotted over at the sound of her name, her collar jingling. Adam smiled, "Hey, Kitty," he stated, petting her head. "We're going to find you your family, okay?" he told her, like she could understand. She batted his mouth with her paw after he said that, making him giggle a little.

Maybe she could understand Adam, and didn't want to leave. Or she was just a cat being a cat. Probably the latter.

Shiro relaxed in the chair he sat in, looking over with a dumb smile at Adam and Kitty. "We're probably going to drop her off first, before meeting Keith, just in case Keith's allergic or something."

Right, the biggest problem at hand, the fact that his dumbass of a boyfriend decided to adopt an entire fucking child. "So you just found this kid and decided to adopt him?" Adam asked, stroking Kitty's head as she crawled into a ball.

"He's an orphan, he's looking for a family." Shiro pointed out. "He's only going to live with us during the summer, as long as I get him into the Garrison. It's not against the rules either, as long as I'm legally related to him."

"Where would we put him if he doesn't?" Adam asked. "We don't exactly have a house," he pointed out. He knew the rules, they wouldn't be able to keep Keith  _(that was his name, right?)_ here unless he became a cadet.

"I'll be able to talk someone into letting Keith stay with us, or talk them into us getting an apartment somewhere in Mosquero. It's not that far of a drive." Shiro said. He was good at reasoning with people, and despite both being against the rules, the Garrison would have to choose one, or forcibly separate a family.

They'd be a family. Adam hasn't even thought about that. Technically, Adam wouldn't be related to Keith, but he'd basically have a son to take care of. He still needed time to wrap his head around that thought.

Adam took another sip of his coffee, trying to think of what to say. He wasn't necessarily mad at Shiro, he just wish he was told that Shiro wanted to adopt before he went ahead and did it. "Why didn't you tell me you were going to adopt a kid?" he asked.

"I thought you'd say no." Shiro admitted. He looked up at Adam, "He's living in a shithole, Adam. The adoption center I picked him up from is terrible. I couldn't just leave him there after finding that out."

Adam sighed. Maybe he let himself get talked into things too easily, sure, but he did have sympathy for this Keith kid. He could hardly imagine what not having a family would be like. Adam's lucky to have a supportive family, and he's never really noticed how fortunate that is. "Alright, I mean, I wouldn't have been able to change your mind, the documents are already signed, but I agree with you. What time are we meeting him?"

**~~~**

He shifted around nervously in his seat. Shiro's told him what Keith looked like, a very vague description, sure, but a description nonetheless. "Skinny white kid with a black mullet," is harder to spot than one would think. The two of them were sitting in the only three-person table in the whole restaurant, three chairs surrounding one table, with one of the sides being shoved against the wall. The third seat in the middle was open for Keith.

Adam tried to stay excited, he was, he wanted to meet Keith, especially the more Shiro talked about him. But worry still clawed away at him. How would they be able to take care of a fucking child? Both Adam and Shiro work too much, and Adam's overheard things about the Garrison putting them on a mission together. Where would Keith go if they did? How would that work out? What if the Garrison did refuse to let them keep Keith?

Sometimes he wonders how Shiro manages to get both of them in these situations. Maybe it's because he's too attached to Shiro to get out of them, but' if these strange situations like these are what it takes to be with Shiro, Adam would adopt every orphaned kid in the world.

Adam focused on Shiro, watching as he perked up with excitment every time the door opened, but calmed back down when it closed again. He was tapping a finger against the table, and Adam could tell what he was thinking. He was worried.

"Don't worry, I'm sure Keith will be here in a minute," Adam stated. They've been waiting for about half an hour so far, and it didn't help when waiters dropped by and asked them if they were ready to order.

Shiro looked back over at Adam, "Yeah, I know. I'm just a little impatient."

The bell into the restaurant ringed again. Adam looked up to see who it was, and instead of another couple or family, it was a single kid, an incredibly pale one with a black mullet. Shiro waved over in the kid's direction, and he looked up. He started heading over in their direction, and sat down at the table.

"Hey, Keith," Shiro said. Adam could tell he was trying to fight a huge smile to not scare Keith, who was already looking a little intimidated. "Glad you're here."

He didn't say anything, but gave a polite nod.  _Not much of a talker, I guess._

"This is Adam, my boyfriend."

"Hey," Adam said, giving Keith a small wave. He looked at the small kid a bit more closely, his hoodie was at least two sizes too big, judging by the way it hung on his shoulders. He looked incredibly tired, like he stayed up all night.

"Hi," he finally spoke up, sounding a little cold. Keith winced directly after, like he knew how harsh he sounded.

He took a breath, "Sorry."

"It's okay," Shiro said, "I know this is new, and we're both basically strangers, no judgement."

Keith nodded again. It was impossible not to see how incredibly uncomfortable Keith was, and Adam wished he could do something to make Keith less comfortable. Maybe they could have picked a more private location, but even then, the restaurant wasn't that busy on a Thursday at  8:30 AM, it wasn't a breakfast restaurant.

The waiter came by to ask if everyone was set to order. Adam and Shiro got spaghetti, (It became a tradition for the two of them—whenever they go to this restaurant, they get spaghetti, the same dish they got on their first date.) Keith just ordered small fries, and it was probably not a coincidence they were the cheapest thing on the menu.

"You know, you can get something else if you want, I can pay for it," Adam told Keith.

Keith hesitated, but asked for some garlic bread as well. After the waiter left, Keith spoke up. "Funny joke, you guys," he said, sounding almost like he was pissed at Adam and Shiro.

"What?" Adam asked. He looked over at Shiro, who was obviously just as shocked and confused.

"What do you mean, a joke?" Shiro asked. His face fell, making him look shocked, confused, and hurt all at once.

"This whole adoption thing. I know it's a prank, you don't have to play dumb with me." he stated. "I mean, I appreciate the day out of school, but still." He readjusted his hoodie again, like he was afraid of it falling off.

"Keith, we aren't joking." Adam stated. Why did Keith even think they were joking? Had someone played a prank like this on him before?

"Already told you, stop playing dumb with me." he said, raising his voice a little, like he was angry but trying to keep it under control, since they were around other people.

"Look, Keith, why would we pull a prank like this on you?" Shiro asked.

Keith shrugged, "For the hell of it? Someone put you up to it? I don't know." he stated.

"Keith, we have the adoption forums all filled out right here. We just need you to sign it, if you want to." Shiro said. He picked up the papers from off of the side of the table, passing them over to Keith. "See?"

Keith took the papers, observing them. Adam watched as his face shifted through emotions, eyebrows furrowed in confusion, then his face softened, and a smile started showing through.

"You, you aren't joking," he started, letting his voice trail off. "Why would you adopt me? I literally stole your car."

Did Keith just say that he stole Shiro's car? "He did  _what_?" Adam asked, turning to Shiro. He could feel his eyes widen in shock. Keith stole Shiro's car. And somehow Shiro is still adopting Keith. First of all, how can Keith even drive, and second, why is Shiro adopting a kid who stole his  _fucking car._

"It's a long story," Shiro dismissed, and turned back to Keith, "It's because, despite the car, you're a good kid, and I think you just need a family. Everyone does." Shiro pulled a pen out of his pocket, and held it over the table for Keith to take.

Keith looked at Shiro, and then at Adam, "Are you sure?" he asked.

"Of course we're sure, Keith," Adam stated.

Keith looked hesitantly at the pen, like he was afraid something bad would happen if he took it, or something bad would happen if he didn't. He reached out and took the pen, signing the first signature.

 


	16. XVI- IKEA: For Cinnamon Buns And Bonding Moments

****It was a weird adjustment, going from having a pet to having a child. Well, it wasn't weird, just different.

Shiro sipped his coffee, while watching Keith's room out of the corner of his eye, wondering if he would wake up. They were intending to properly buy Keith things he will need, such as a better bed, furniture, clothes, perhaps a laptop. But then again, he couldn't judge Keith too harshly, seeing as Adam has yet to have waken up either.

They really should have done this a week ago, right after they adopted Keith, but seeing as it was final exams week for the cadets, Shiro and Adam were both too busy. For now, Keith was sleeping on Adam's old bed, in a room filled with paperwork and clutter. Keith didn't mind, but Shiro felt guilty, seeing as it probably mirrored the room he grew up in.

Adam eventually woke up, walking out of his room. His glasses were lopsided and his hair a mess, "Morning, 'kashi," he said sleepily, and proceeded to mumble something that turned into a yawn. "Make me coffee?" was the only comprehensible words.

"So you're still having trouble with the coffee machine?" Shiro teased. Adam's known how to use it for ages, it's just become a running joke between the two of them that Adam has no idea how. Shiro uses it when he doesn't feel like making coffee for Adam in the mornings. He's comfortable, and the barstool is warm.

"You suck," he said, and grabbed a mug. He paused, and started snickering.

"Adam, we have a child in the house," Shiro pointed out, fighting to keep the smile off his face. 

"He's asleep, it's fine." Adam dismissed, and hopped onto the counter behind Shiro, resting his head on top of Shiro's, pulling a smile onto Shiro's face. Adam was so cuddly in the mornings, it was adorable.

The door opened, and both of them turned their heads to Keith. "Wow. Okay then," he muttered upon seeing Adam and Shiro.

"Sorry," Adam said, hopping off the countertop and grabbing his coffee.

"No, it's fine, just, yeah." he said. "I've never grown up around relationships."

"We get it," Shiro said. His parents were never really openly affectionate around each other, which meant as a kid he always got uncomfortable seeing others being lovey-dovey.

"Anyway, what do you want for breakfast? We haven't been able to cook during the week, so I was hoping to-" Adam was cut off.

"I'll just have cereal again, it's fine." Keith said. He walked over to open the cupboard, but upon realizing he was too short to reach the cereal, had to climb onto the countertop.

"You sure? I was going to make us some pancakes anyway," Adam suggested. 

"Yeah." he stated.

Keith being closed off was normal. The times they did interact with Keith, he was pretty quiet, usually giving one-word answers. Shiro's been starting to read a couple books about how to care for an adopted teen, and being guarded was supposed to be normal.

"Anyway, I was thinking we could go get you some proper furniture, something that suits your style a little more. Make this place feel a bit more like home." Shiro offered.

"You don't need to waste that money on me," Keith said, through a mouthful of cereal.

"But we want to," Adam challenged. He watched as Adam grabbed a box of pancake mix and added some milk, and a couple other ingredients. "Chocolate?" he asked Shiro.

Shiro nodded, and Adam dumped chocolate chips into the mix. "Plus, I can't imagine you're comfortable in there. Eighty percent of the time Adam slept in there he ended up migrating to the couch, and eventually my room."

"That used to be your room?" Keith asked.

"Yep," Adam answered, "We were roommates before we started dating."

"Oh my god, they were roommates," Keith muttered to himself, and shut his mouth abruptly. Shiro squinted in confusion as Adam burst out laughing.  _What was so funny?_

"You know Vine?" Adam asked, whipping his head around at Keith.

 _What the hell is a Vine?_ he thought to himself. Whatever it was, Adam and Keith found it hilarious.

Keith nodded, "I got bored a lot in the adoption center, old humor is actually pretty funny."

Adam smiled, "You ever happen to watch old movies?" he asked.

"No, never had the chance. We weren't given a lot of internet access, I only got a phone so I could listen to music." he admitted.

Adam laughed, "We're having a Star Wars night tonight." The pancakes sizzled as Adam flipped them over with a spatula.

"He did this to me when we first met. We watched all nine movies," Shiro explained. The great Star Wars binge that started it all.

Keith nodded, and put his dish in the sink, "Yeah. Thanks for breakfast," he said. On his way back to his room, Keith grabbed one of the pancakes stacked up high on a plate.

He was interacting with them, which Shiro figured was a positive sign. Adam and Keith have something to bond over now, old movies and whatever the hell a Vine was. Hopefully what that book said was true, and Keith'll be able to adjust to them within a couple months.

**~~~**

"So, what kind of furniture do you want?" the sales clerk asked as the three of them walked into IKEA. A couple of sales clerks were walking around and asking people if they needed help, while other shoppers just headed straight upstairs.

Adam started talking before he or Keith could even open their mouths, "We're looking for the bedroom stuff, for..." he opened his mouth, but hesitated, and didn't say anything else.

"Well, all the displays are upstairs, feel free to check out any other department on your way," they said, handing him and Adam maps.

Shiro unfolded his, looking at the maze-like map on the paper. Hopefully they wouldn't get lost, he already has once before. Not a fun experience, to be honest. "Thanks," he said, and the group of them walked up the blue and yellow stairs.

Adam was really intrigued by all the displays, looking around all the beds and rugs, feeling the texture of a couple, arranging some pillows. "My aunt's an interior designer, used to help her out with arranging things," he told Shiro, then darted off to go look at a gray and white striped rug, "This one's pretty nice," he mused.

"We can get it if you want," he told Adam. It didn't look that expensive, plus their floors were freezing, especially in the winter. Adam smiled, clicked a pen, and looked around for a piece of paper to write down the number of the item on. Upon realizing he doesn't have one, he just wrote it on the back of his hand.

Keith was still silent, one earbud popped in his ear, the other hanging out. Shiro thought about asking him to take it out so he could talk with them, but decided against it. He could tell Keith liked his own space.

The trio walked along the maze, occasionally stopping to check out a display. Adam got a couple of orange throw pillows for the couches, and Shiro grabbed a blanket, because Adam's slowly developing a habit of hogging all the covers, leaving him freezing in the mornings. Eventually, they made it to the bedroom section, and Adam asked Keith what he wanted.

"Just...a bed, you know?"

"Any specific color?" Adam asked, "Maybe some comforters or something?"

"Black, I guess." he responded, shrugging a little bit.

Shiro chuckled, "Black everything?" he asked. He was tempted to say "That's a little emo," but figured it was best to leave it out.

"Maybe some red," Keith said. He looked around a little bit, and shifted his jacket on his shoulders. He looked kind of uncomfortable, as he constantly shifted his weight from one foot to another. There were a lot of people in this section specifically, maybe he just didn't like all these people around him.

Adam looked around, and pointed out a red and gray comforter, "How about this?" he asked, holding it up for Keith.

"That's good," Keith said, with a nod. "Like I said, I really don't care what you get me. I'm not that interior-design savvy." He put the other earbud in his ear, and tapped his finger to the tune he was listening to.

"Well, we should get a bedframe, I know somewhere where we can get a mattress, a desk, and probably a dresser of some sort." Shiro stated, "And they should be black or red."

Adam nodded in agreement, "What about something like this?" he asked, pointing out a sleek black bedframe, with drawers underneath.

Keith nodded, and took an earbud out again, "That looks good," he said, with a bit more enthusiasm than he was earlier. Adam and Shiro shared a look of pride and achievement. They carried on, picking out a matching desk and nightstand, plus a rug and a few pillows. 

There was a small colorful bucket when they first came downstairs. Shiro first glanced over it, thinking it was filled with kid's toys, until Adam said, "Hey look, Pride flags!"

Shiro took another look at the bucket, and noticed that it was full of colorful flags. Right, it was June, pride month. He smiled a little, and grabbed two flags, a gay one for himself and a bi one for Adam. "Happy Pride," he said, smiling at Adam.

Adam took the bi flag and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Keith shove a flag in his pocket. Shiro smiled a little to himself, but decided he'd let Keith come out on his own terms, especially since he didn't see which flag Keith grabbed.

Adam went over and started telling an employee on what to get out of storage, while Keith and Shiro just sat to the side and waited. Keith was sitting in a chair with one leg popped up on the seat, the other laying out normally, his head against his knee. "Uhh," Keith started, looking over at the food court.

"Yeah?" he asked. "Also, get your leg off the chair."

He removed his leg slowly, "Nevermind," he dismissed, still staring at the food court, "I'll just get something from home."

"What do you mean? Of course we're stopping for food." Shiro said.

"Yeah, aren't there those huge cinnamon buns here? I'm not sure, I haven't ever been here." Adam asked, to which Shiro nodded. The huge cinnamon rolls were half the reason to go to Ikea in the first place. Adam would have a field day seeing how big they actually were

Keith smiled, "Thanks."

Shiro walked up to the counter, "Three large cinnamon rolls, and three soft drinks," he ordered, and payed for. Grabbing some sodas for Keith and Adam, he headed back to the table they were all sitting at.

"Where's the cinnamon buns?" Adam asked.

"They need to make more," he explained, "Hopefully it won't take too long." He looked over at the kitchen, waiting to see if three plates of cinnamon rolls sat on the counter. "Anyway, we're going to grab you some clothes on the way home," Shiro said, facing Keith.

"I've got enough clothes," Keith said. Shiro was starting to notice a trend: anything they offered to do Keith, he'll insist that they shouldn't.

"You have three outfits," Adam pointed out, "One of which is pajamas."

Keith stayed silent, taking a sip of his drink. All of them were silent, actually, until Shiro dismissed himself to grab the cinnamon rolls.

He smiled as he brought them over, all of them fresh and smelling heavenly. "Takashi, these things are huge!" Adam said, holding up a cinnamon roll.

Keith smiled, and took a bite of his roll, "They're good," he said, through a mouthful of roll. Shiro hasn't really seen Keith look genuinely happy, not until today.

Shiro nodded. They were good cinnamon rolls. The three of them sat around the table, eating their cinnamon rolls, just like some of the other families around them. Maybe they weren't quite as close as those families, but for Shiro, just having himself, his boyfriend and his adopted son, this was family enough.


	17. XVII- Well, He's Better Than Adam Was At This

"You sure about this? He's only thirteen," Adam asked, looking over at Keith on the hoverbike. Shiro watched as Keith rolled his eyes at Adam. Keith was obviously not pleased with that statement and the implication that he wasn't old enough to go hoverbiking.

Shiro nodded, "He'll be fine, I'm teaching him," he encouraged. Keith was already a skilled pilot, at least, according to the simulation, but he needed to keep training so he could get good grades at the Garrison. His classmates were going to be the top students from all over the country, and even some of the best from other countries, and he didn't want Keith to fall behind.

"Well, you did teach me," he thought aloud. He glanced between Shiro and Keith and shrugged, "Just stay safe, okay? Don't teach him the jumping off the cliff part just yet."

Shiro chuckled, "I wasn't planning on it," he said. He was actually planning on it, but decided against telling Adam that fact. He didn't need to know, not really.

Adam nodded. His face glowed almost pink in the slowly setting sun—they should have probably started sooner. Then again, the two of them were at a meeting, because in about a month, they were going to be sent on a mission together. Pilot and co-pilot, Shirogane and Woodford.

It was supposed to be short, just a month-long mission to the Garrison's moon base to deliver important supplies. Normally a cargo pilot would have gone, but many of them tend to visit their families in the summer, so the number of pilots still at the Garrison was low, and there was a recent space station wreck, causing the journey to be more difficult than usual.

Adam wasn't thrilled, especially since they would be leaving Keith, but it would be close to the school year by then, so Keith would have to live in the dorms anyway. Shiro was going to miss Keith, they had all gotten close in the past month, but hopefully Keith would make a friend.

"Anyway, so you know the basics, right?" Shiro asked.

Keith shrugged, making the "I don't know" hum. "Forward is go, right?" he asked, thrusting the handles forward of a hoverbike which thankfully was turned off.

"Yes, but go lightly, especially while you're learning." Shiro instructed. He slipped on the hoverbike which was on, and demonstrated, rotating the handles forward slowly, and increased speed as he drove around directionlessly.

"To turn, you can put less pressure on one side of the handle, but that usually results in spinning in circles. Adam made that mistake and nearly threw up once," Shiro teased.

Adam rolled his eyes at Shiro playfully, "You don't have to tell him every detail."

Shiro shrugged, "Just a warning." He cleared his throat, and looked back at Keith, "The best way to turn is to shift your body weight from side to side." To demonstrate, he made a bit of a squiggly line with his bike.

"Can I try yet?" Keith asked, slumped across the handlebars of his bike, obviously losing his patience quickly. Kids, especially his age, all have ridiculously short attention spans. Shiro really should be used to it, working with preteens and young teens on a daily basis, but he has forgets from time to time.

"Just wait," Adam said, still watching from a distance. He was standing on a short hill, looking over Keith and Shiro as they learned.

"If you're about to crash, throw yourself with your arm and leg outstretched to either side, preferably the side without any rocks or anything," Shiro instructed, doing a little demonstration by stretching his left arm and leg completely out, "It works best if this is in the sand, but for the most part, this'll make all the damage in your arm and leg instead of more important areas like your chest or your head," Shiro informed.

Keith nodded. He still looked bored, glancing over this information like he thinks he won't need it.

Shiro hopped off the bike and walked over to Keith, handing him the key to the other hoverbike. "You ready to fly?" he asked, patting Keith on the back.

Keith took it, adjusted his goggles, and with a fiery look in his eyes, turned the key in and started flying across the desert. He weaved between rocks and cacti like it was second nature to him, like something he's been doing his whole life. The simulator was right, Keith did have a natural talent for piloting.

"That's a little fast," Adam commented, watching Keith with a concerned look in his eye.

"He'll be fine."

Adam shrugged, "You said that to me the first time I went, and I almost crashed into a cactus," he pointed out, his eyes still watching Keith flying across the red-tinted sand.

He had a point. Shiro hopped on his hoverbike and started following behind Keith, whose black hair whipped around in the wind wildly. He sped up a little faster than normal to make sure he could keep up with him, but it seemed to only encourage Keith to go faster, like he was racing against Shiro. "Slow down!" Shiro yelled at Keith, only to be drowned out by the sound of sand flying and the motorbikes roaring.

Keith leaned so far to the side on one turn, his body was parallel with the sky and ground. He was taking more and more dangerous risks as he flew on faster, and with the sun constantly in his eyes and Keith's constant speed, it made it almost impossible for Shiro to catch up with Keith. Even worse, whenever Shiro got close to him, Keith was too focused on flying to notice, making all of his effort in vain.

Shiro was trailing right behind Keith, struggling between making a large X with his arms, keeping the bike rolling with his elbows thrusting the handles forward, and trying to navigate. He kept looking to the left, focusing on trying to catch Keith's attention.

Thankfully, before Shiro crashed into anything, Keith saw Shiro's motion, and nodded, slowing down. Shiro breathed a sigh of relief, but before he could do anything, a large rock skimmed the right of his bike and himself, causing him to get knocked off center and his bike to go spiraling out of control.

Shiro threw himself off. He closed his eyes and braced for impact, and landed in the hot red sand. After wincing as sand stung—is that a cut?—Shiro looked out to the side, and a couple feet away was Keith, who had also fallen off his bike and into the sand.

He faintly heard Adam's frantic voice calling out "Takashi?" and "Keith?", and footsteps through the desert. Shiro lifted his head up, wiping the sand off of himself, and wincing as his arm and leg were still sore.

"Still alive," Shiro said, raising up his non-sore arm. Adam, who was still a good way away from him was still sprinting towards himself and Keith at full speed.

Keith muttered something which could either have been him saying "Barely," or "Unfortunately," and Shiro couldn't tell which. It really could have been either, honestly, his ears were too clogged with sand to tell.

Adam finally slowed down when he reached Shiro and Keith, and looked back and forth between the two of them, breathing a sigh of relief, until his relief turned to anger.

"Keith. Takashi told you not to go that fast," he scolded, turning to the voice which was too passive, the one he used only whenever he was either really mad, really worried, or both. "Takashi, I told you Keith wasn't ready for this."

"We're fine, Adam," Shiro insisted, and tried to push himself up, until his weaker arm gave out.

"You should have been more careful, Takashi," Adam stated, and held out his arms, one to help Shiro up and one to help Keith up. They both grabbed on and were pulled up simultaneously. Adam took the corner of his shirt and used it to wipe the sand off of the cuts on Shiro's face.

"I'm sorry, Adam," Shiro said, looking to the side, guilt twinging in his heart. Adam already gets nervous too easily, and Shiro knew he wasn't helping, not in the slightest.

Keith wiped the sand off his face and jacket, sighing. "I would have been fine, Shiro, you don't need to constantly watch over me," he pointed out, arms were crossed across his chest.

"It's your first time on a hoverbike, we just didn't want you to injure yourself," Shiro defended. He walked over to the hoverbike which crashed into the rock, which got a small dent and some of the paint scraped off, leaving a scratched metal surface.

"Look how well that went," Keith retorted, glancing at the scratch across Shiro's cheek, "Besides, you don't need to constantly watch out for me, I've lived without you long enough."

The last sentence struck everyone silent. The only noise was the breeze blowing a small wave of sand on the distance. It wasn't awkward silence, necessarily, just tense. Shiro couldn't say anything that would sound sincere, so he chose to just keep his mouth shut.

"Keith," Adam started, but his voice was cut off.

Keith sighed, looking up at Adam and then at Shiro, "Sorry," He muttered half heartedly, and changed his glance to his black Converse.

"We know you had to watch out for yourself growing up," Adam stated. He was trying his best to understand a situation he was never in himself, and Shiro admired him for that, how empathetic he could be, "I know you can't just fully trust someone to care for yourself after so long, but we don't want you to keep feeling like you have to always rely on just yourself. You shouldn't have to worry about that."

Keith looked up at Adam, a small glimmer in his eye. His shoulders didn't look as tense, and he looked calmer. He didn't notice that his jacket slipped off one shoulder, which normally he would have fixed immediately.

"I know we're still a new part of your life, and calling myself your family is too soon, but you can at least confide in us like you would a friend," Adam said.

Keith nodded, with a smile on his face. Shiro didn't expect Keith to run into their arms into a huge hug, because, as Adam likes to say, "life's not a fairy tale."

"You want to try again?" Shiro offered, propping one leg up on the seat of the hoverbike. It was getting late, sure, but there's probably a pretty solid 15 minutes of light left, and they might as well use them.

"No," Adam answered for Shiro.

Shiro and Keith shared a look of disappointment, "But Adam-"

"You need to get something for your face-" Adam started, pointing at Shiro, "and you aren't allowed outside the Garrison at night," He switched his gaze to Keith.

"We can at least fly home," Shiro pointed out. It was getting harder to see all the cacti as the sun set, sure, but they both knew to go slower now.

Keith was already partially on one hoverbike, and started speeding off into the distance, the sand which spread around him like wake from a boat looking more purple than red.

Adam gave Shiro a quick kiss before starting up the other hoverbike, "I'll drive,"

"You're the best," Shiro said, climbing on behind Adam, clutching into his body as the two of them followed behind Keith, as the skies faded from purple, to navy blue, to black.


	18. XVIII- The Starry Room (+ Two Grown Men Acting Like Children)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shit, I forgot about this story, didn't I? I'll be publishing a bunch of chapters today to make up for it.

Adam blinked, trying to get his eyes adjusted from the harsh white lighting of the Garrison hallways to the dusky blue sky outside. This was usually one of his favorite times of day, when it slowly became night and specks of stars slowly entered the sky.

He'll be able to see a lot of stars tonight.

There weren't many people watching the takeoff, some friends and family of other crew members, some cadets who want to watch a rocket launch, and a couple commanders to make sure everything goes according to plan.

Keith was walking alongside them, a lot quieter than usual. Since he's started classes, he's been a lot more talkative, but Adam wasn't sure if it was because he has more people his age to talk to, or if he's only taking to Shiro and Adam. They both hoped for the former, but doubted it.

"Last time I was here you were getting back from that one mission," Adam commented, thinking about the mission which directly resulted in him and Shiro getting together. Shiro's been on a lot less missions than usual, and while Adam wasn't sure why, it meant he had more time with Shiro, so it wasn't anything he could complain about.

"That was a painful mission. One, I was apart from you, and two, I had to deal with Samantha calling you "my boy-toy" almost every day," Shiro mused. He had a bit of a nostalgic look in his eye, like, while hating every moment of it, still missed that mission in a way.

Keith scrunched up his face, "Didn't need to know that," he muttered.

Adam smiled. "Blame that on Sam, not us," he responded.

They arrived at where everyone else was, watching the rocket in anticipation, despite there still being a decent amount of time before it takes off.

"We'll be back in two weeks, Keith," Shiro reminded, patting a stray hair down on Keith's head. The flight there would take twice as long as usual, since they were carrying years worth of supplies, and they would have to slow while dodging the flying space junk from the wrecked space station.

Keith nodded, "Yeah, I know," he said, a bit of a sadness to his voice, like he knew he was going to miss Adam and Shiro.

Adam knew that he was going to miss Keith. "Don't burn down the Garrison," Adam teased, ruffling up the hair Shiro just fixed.

Keith scoffed, "I'm not—" he complained.

"Crew S647A, arrive at station," a loud even voice commanded over a loudspeaker. That was their unfortunate cue.

"We'll see you soon, Keithers," Adam said, holding his arms out for a hug. Keith obliged, and Shiro joined in as well. He held Keith and Shiro in an awkward three-way hug, one which was too short for any of them.

"I'll miss you guys," Keith said, as they all let go. He looked up at him and Shiro with a shine of sadness to his gaze. He was sincere in his words to them, and it was then Adam realized that with him and Shiro gone, Keith would be alone again, like he spent his life until just a couple months ago.

"We'll miss you too, Keith. Make sure you call us, and try and make a friend while we're gone," Shiro lectured, sounding more and more like a concerned parent with every word. Adam could see the tenseness in his body, and tell that Shiro was worried as well.

"I know, I know, Shiro," Keith said, putting his arms out in defense, looking a little embarrassed, if anything.

Adam and Shiro started walking, hand in hand, towards an elevator, which was glowing brightly in the distance, the doors open and waiting for all five crew members: Shiro, Adam, two girls named Elizabeth and Lisette, and a person named Skyler.

Shiro and Adam waited to one side, along with a tan androgynous-looking person, leaning against the wall with their phone. Adam assumed it was their mechanic, Skyler, who looked up and gave them an awkward wave, then went back to looking at their phone.

"You think he'll be okay?" Adam asked, looking back out in the crowd, trying to spot Keith. It was too dark to tell, but searching for Keith gave himself something to do in the otherwise silent elevator. Shiro squeezed Adam's hand, like a silent way of saying that he will be. The reaffirmation calmed Adam down, at least for now.

"Not to pry, but who?" Skyler asked, popping out a neon-blue earbud, with an interested look on their face. They had streaks of bright blue and light purple in their hair, which made Adam wondered if dyed hair was even allowed on military property. 

Shiro was first to speak up, "My..." he looked for the right thing to call Keith. "My younger brother," he decided on, and it fitted. Adam himself didn't feel like a dad (though, either way, Shiro is technically the one who adopted Keith, so his opinion didn't really matter), and saying so just felt awkward to him. But older brother, he could see himself as being Keith's older brother or older cousin, and Shiro must have felt the same way.

Two other girls, one with blonde hair in a long braid and one with brown hair in a bun, walked into the elevator as well. They both were talking to each other, but stopped as the elevator door closed and started going up.

The elevator stopped, and all five walked out, walking along a narrow pathway onto the ship. The world around them was hard to see, only darkness as the sky grew darker and darker. Adam knew even if he tried, he wouldn't be able to see Keith, but looked over the side anyway.

He entered the ship and took his seat, strapping himself in and adjusting his glasses, which were a bit lopsided. Shiro gave him a quick kiss before sitting down in his own seat. He was always the most nervous before a launch, which was mainly because of how unsettling it felt to be shot up into space at 17,000 miles per hour.

"Crew S647A, prepare to launch," a voice spoke over the loudspeaker, "T-minus one minute."

"You all ready?" Shiro asked, looking around behind him, his gaze lingering on Adam for just a second longer than everyone else. There was a unanimous hum of agreement from everyone, who were strapped into their seats and waiting with probably the same slight discomfort Adam always felt. It was Skyler's and Lisette's first mission, apparently, which probably made it worse for them.

"T-minus thirty seconds," the voice spoke over the loudspeaker again. Adam considered asking everyone a question to break the tense air, but the only thing that came to mind was asking "Are you all excited?" which was both a cliche and childish question, like a parent may ask a kid whose about to ride a rollercoaster. Plus, roughly twenty seconds wasn't enough time to have a conversation.

"T-minus ten seconds. Nine. Eight—" Countdowns always make everything worse, Adam thought "—Seven. Six. Five. Four—" he gripped onto his seat's armrest, despite knowing that nothing was going to hurt him, "—Three. Two. One."

The ship shook slightly and Adam remembered to hold his breath as loud rockets sounded in the background, and they made their way through the atmosphere. He wished there was a window to look out of, instead of having to rely on looking around awkwardly, glancing from side to side, looking forward to when they were in space.

A few minutes of awkward small-talk over the sound of the engines later (mainly about Skyler's hair, where they got it dyed, how they were allowed to have it on the Garrison grounds, et cetera,) Adam unbuckled himself, and started floating through the . He kept one hand on his glasses in fear of them floating away. Honestly, he really needed contact lenses, but he found them to be a pain to try and keep up with, and honestly just forgot to grab some from Mosquero's optometristbefore the mission.

Adam floated over to Shiro's chair, grabbing onto the back of it, "Takashi, got a moment?" he asked, smiling at him.

"Yeah?" Shiro asked, looking over his shoulder at the hovering Adam.

Adam grabbed Shiro's hand, "Come on, let's go somewhere to see the stars. It's half the reason why I agreed to this," he confessed.

Shiro unbuckled, and the two of them floated for a moment, holding hands, hair flying through space. Adam huffed in amusement as the floof of hair on Shiro's head floated upwards, hovering in the air, and patted it back down. Shiro smiled, and gave Adam a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Get a room," teased Lisette. Adam watched out of the corner of his eye as Lisette helped unbuckle Elizabeth, who was struggling with her seatbelt.

"Alright, but I've also gotta fly this thing, so we can't be long," Shiro said.

Adam started swimming through space, doing a frog-like swim through the air. Being in zero gravity is a weird feeling, like the moment when you're flying at a million miles per hour down a rollercoaster, your stomach rising and not feeling attached to anything, except minus the straps holding onto your shoulders, keeping you at least somewhat attached to reality.

They usually only kept zero-gravity on for the first hour or so for technical reasons, but in one flight he's been in, they'd turn it back on for a couple hours just to float around. Adam still has vivid memories of being in a room with nothing but (very thick) glass all along one wall, looking out and seeing millions and millions of stars.

Adam opened the lock on the heavy-duty door, and opened into a room just like the one he's been in before.

Shiro smiled, "Somehow I knew you'd want to take me here," he said, floating just above Adam. He floated by the glass, watching as they were slowly able to see the continents and oceans of Earth take place, and stars all around them.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Adam asked, one hand against the freezing cold glass, the other hand holding onto Shiro's. He's always liked to look up at the sky and imagine what was past all of those stars, despite knowing that the universe was infinite.

"Not as beautiful as someone I know," he teased, tickling Adam in the stomach. Adam backed away as fast as he could, trying to keep a straight face, his hatred of tickles almost overpowering his love of Shiro.

"Takashi, please," Adam said, floating away as Shiro chased him, ready to catch him for tickles. They bounced off walls like ping-pong balls, in their childish impromptu game of tag. Both laughing like children while the stars shone and the sun blazed in the background, through the tinted glass windows.

Adam looked up at Shiro, who was about to land on him and catch Adam once and for all, when his head hit the floor and Shiro hit his chest like a sharp punch to the gut.

"They need to warn us before they switch the gravity off. You okay, Adam?" Shiro asked, looking up at Adam.

Adam smiled, "Eh, I've had worse. You could stand to lose a few pounds, though," he teased, smirking at Shiro's face of unamusement.

"We should probably go back to being responsible adults, before everyone else wonders where we've gone," Shiro said, standing up and dusting off his legs. Adam stood up and joined him, taking one last look of the starry room.


	19. XIX- All This, But They Still Don't Have Their Snacks

**Apologizing in advance, but just so you know, this fic will probably only have around 11 more chapters. I want to focus on an original work I've been trying to get done since October.**

**Originally this was going to have 40 chapters, but I shortened it to 35, and then now 30. (It was also originally gonna be finished around March, and that kinda went out the window after my December-Febuary hiatus). Hopefully I'll be updating twice a week from here on out and will finish this fic before next summer, so I'll have the whole summer to work on nothing but my original story.**

**Anyway, enough rambling, onto the chapter.**

Adam floated around on his back, hovering about a foot above the floor in an open room, one which used to hold all the cargo, but was now empty since they dropped it off at the moon station three days ago. The gravity has been faulty the past couple of days, occasionally the anti-gravity would flash on and off. It was dangerous, but there wasn't much any of them could do about it until they landed—even though Elizabeth was a mechanic, she hadn't prepared for a faulty gravity stabilizer. They just all had to make sure they didn't float too high, and they'd probably be fine.

He's already judged his chances of injury if he happened to fall right at this moment, which usually is with no warning. He may get the air knocked out of his chest if he breathed the wrong way, which was the worst case scenario and he'd recover.

There was no direct danger to anyone of them at the moment, there was nothing but a clear stretch of space for the next couple of days, so they could kind of do whatever. Adam's just been lying in space, watching Shiro float around. He had been doing laps back and forth like he was in a swimming pool, bouncing off one wall and moving across to the other. He wondered if Shiro knew that he wasn't really getting any exercise, but every fifth lap Shiro would swim down and give Adam a kiss for encouragement, so he wasn't going to complain.

Glancing over to the side, he watched Skylar, Elizabeth, and Lisette being immersed in a game of Uno while cross legged in the air, which was hard because sometimes the cards would start floating away. "Uno," Elizabeth yelled, holding up a single card.

He sat up and glanced at the card she hid from the others, seeing it was a red 7. Honestly, he didn't know why he chose to yell out "It's red!" to Skylar and Lisette. If Adam had to say, it was probably partially out of spite that they started without him. He adjusted his glasses, something he has to do a lot when the gravity is gone, and layed back down.

Elizabeth drifted over and slapped him in the arm with her card, "Jackass," she grumbled, which made Adam snicker.

"What'd you do that for?" Shiro asked, stopping to hover above him.

Adam shrugged, and smiled, "I was bored," he decided.

"You guys want snacks?" Shiro asked. There was a fridge across the hallway on the second story, (it was a pretty big ship, usually designed for long distance transport.) All five had worked to smuggle snacks on. Adam had hidden mutiple boxes of mint Oreos in a bag and snuck them on board a week before they left, and Shiro brought chips and Cheez-its. Unfortunately, no soda, as Adam learned the hard way that drinking soda in space isn't the most pleasant experience in the world, or in this case, out of the world.

Everyone nodded in agreement on snacks, so Shiro opened the door and left to go grab snacks. Adam closed his eyes and heard the group playing Uno, and the beeping noises of the ship. It was pretty relaxing, just hovering around. It was like laying in those soft hotel beds, but better, in a way. 

He felt a sharp whack to his back, and winced. The cards which have been floating fell back down and were in a large pile, along with his three other crewmates. There was a loud thud in the background, which was probably a desk or mattress of some sort. "Looks like the gravity's back on," he commented to himself, rubbing the back of his head. "You guys all okay?"

All three of them seemed fine, except for the fact their butts may hurt for a couple days from landing on them abruptly. "Well that hurt," Skylar muttered, trying to reorganize the cards back into a pile.

He heard a whine, followed by a indecipherable mutter. Shiro was still outside. Was that-

Adam leaped forward and opened the door, and started running down the hallway. There was an open hole and a ladder upstairs at the end. And on the ground, Shiro was sprawled out, laying on his right side. "Takashi!" Adam bent down by Shiro, who looked at him blankly through squinted eyes, "Are you okay?"

He muttered something weakly, "Why is everything ringing," he asked, barely a whisper. Adam looked down at him, not hearing the ringing he was talking about.

"Elizabeth! Lisette! Skylar!" Adam yelled, and started trying to prop Shiro up, "Can you move your legs?" he asked, to which Shiro nodded slightly.

Elizabeth opened the door first, "Is everything okay?"

Adam pointed at Shiro, "He's hurt, I don't know how badly," he said.

Lisette picked up Shiro and held one of his arms—the one he landed on—and he hissed in pain, wincing so much that his face scrunched up and he staggered. "Can you move your right arm?" she asked, and Shiro shook his head no.

Lisette looked at Adam, "He needs medical assistance, I will take care of him," she told Adam.

"How bad is it?" Adam asked.

Lisette looked over Shiro, "Likely a broken or fractured arm, and a concussion, if I had to guess. He's in no shape to fly."

Adam nodded, "I'll contact help," he said, and took one last look at Shiro, "Stay safe," he said, and ran down the hallway to the control room. He sat down in the chair, and looked around. There was a red button for contacting Mission Control, somewhere. Scanning over the many gadgets, he spotted a bright red button on a speaker and jammed it down with his thumb. "This is Woodford of crew S647A calling Mission Control, do you copy?" Adam asked, holding down the red button with enough force to break it. He could tell he was getting more and more stressed by the second, but that was the least of his concerns.

Nobody responded. "Mission Control, do you copy?"

"Garrison Mission Control, what seems to be the issue?" a male voice asked over the speaker, and Adam breathed a sigh of relief, along with the rest of the crew. There was someone there to help Shiro.

"Shirogane is badly injured, he has a concussion and a fractured or broken arm, we cannot tell at the moment. Can you send supplies?" Adam asked, trying his hardest to keep his voice steady, but it was still laced with both relief and worry.

The voice paused, but asked "How far away from Earth are you?"

Skylar, who was standing near some of the equipment, answered before Adam did, "178,330 kilometers."

Adam then repeated the distance to Mission Control, and added, "There is a little less than four days left on our journey, and we only have a co-pilot to fly us. Can you send supplies?" he asked.

The voice made a deep sigh, followed by typing on a keyboard, voices in the background, and the scratch of a pencil on paper. Adam couldn't hear much of what anyone was saying, which only made him worry more. Finally, he spoke again, "Our fastest ships are all under maintenance, and there are not enough pilots to construct a crew on such short notice. If we were to send supplies, they would not reach you for three days, and by which, you will already be close enough to Earth that it'd just be counterproductive. My sincerest apologies."

If it was anyone else, Adam would have hung up then and there, but it was the Garrison, and he wasn't necessarily fond of the idea of losing his job. "Thank you, Mission Control," he said, and then took his finger off the red button, cutting contact.

He leaned back in his chair and sighed. It would take at least two days to turn back and head for the moon, probably more, seeing as Adam isn't as confident of a pilot as Shiro. The Garrison couldn't send anyone. There were no space stations in sight, except for the wreckage that he'll have to navigate through.

His options were try and fly home on his own and hope Shiro doesn't get any worse, or pointlessly search for another station that has supplies. Adam took a breath, and chose the latter. It was pointless, but it was the best option he had, "This is ship S647A, our pilot is injured and we need supplies, over."

Lisette approached Adam, her long brown hair down instead of up in a usual bun. "I'll watch the ship, you go check on Shiro," she instructed, holding onto the back of the pilot's chair.

Adam shook his head, "We have to find a station, or at least somewhere we can stop. There isn't enough medical equipment here to help him," he said, not moving from his seat. He looked around the control panel, wishing he payed more attention when learning about what everything does, but he knew it wouldn't have helped.

"He's asking for you, Adam."

Adam looked up at her, and sighed. People say that sighing is like a mental reset button, like when you reload a computer to make it go faster, and apparently he's been hitting the reset button a lot. He knew he needed to stay there to try and find contact with someone, but he did desperately want to see Shiro. "Okay. I'll be back in five," he said, and got out of his chair to go to the sleeping quarters.

He passed along the hallways slowly, running his fingers up and down the walls. The extremely harsh fluorescent lights paired with the white paint never failed to remind him of hospitals, and the Garrison. Adam wiped some of the dirt off of his glasses with his shirt, and knocked on the door to the sleeping quarters softly, "Can I come in?" he asked, loud enough to be heard through the door, but not too loud to make Shiro's concussion worse.

Adam opened the door, and the first thing Shiro said was "Please don't turn on the lights," as Adam instinctively reached for the light switch. He let his eyes adjust to the dark for a moment, trying to spot which of the bunk beds had his boyfriend in it. There was a lump in the last one on the right, which must have been Shiro.

"Hey, Takashi," Adam said, leaning down by Shiro. He took Shiro's hand, the one without the makeshift cast, and held it in his own, "You doing okay?"

"Been better, honestly," he said, keeping his voice quiet. Shiro looked up at him, and while it was hard to tell specific features in the dark, he could see was a sad smile on his face.

"We're going to get someone to help you, okay?" Adam told him, and squeezed his hand for comfort, but he couldn't tell if he was comforting Shiro or himself.

"I'll be fine, I mean, I'll have to face much worse than this soon," he said with a slight chuckle, and there was a bit of a silence.

Adam worried if Shiro's sarcopenia would worsen now that his arm was broken. He was never a religious person, but if Adam was, he would pray it didn't. He'd pray for a lot of things, really, for Shiro to heal quickly, for Keith to find a friend, to make it home safely, for Shiro and Keith to be happy.

"Get some rest, Shiro. I love you," Adam concluded, gave Shiro a quick kiss farewell, and walked out of the room. He wasn't a religious person, so it was up to him to make sure all the things he would have prayed for be a possibility.


	20. XX: Disaster? Averted. Adam? Exhausted. Hotel? Trivago

It's been a day since Shiro was injured. Adam has been forcing his eyes to stay open, coffee handed to him whenever the gravity works long enough to make a coffee, but not anymore, as everyone was asleep. Everyone has asked him multiple times to get sleep as well, or in Skylar's harsher way of putting it, "I'm going to be straight with you: you look like a zombie. Seriously."

But he hasn't stopped watching outside the windshield in hope of finding someone, despite the occasional short nap between when his timer goes off to tell him to try calling again. He's only attempting contact with someone outside every five minutes, to save him energy. It's pointless doing it more often than that, in all honesty.

He had stopped going forward a while ago, to save fuel. The anti-gravity switching on and off caused fuel to drain quickly, and after doing the calculations, came to the conclusion that they'd probably run out of fuel before they got home, or would risk an unsafe landing.

Adam let his head fall against the steering wheel, using some of his very limited energy to keep them from turning. He was exhausted and starting to lose hope, in all honesty, and the fact all he had to keep him awake was his alarm and some depressing music stuck in his head, the music he used to listen to when he was fourteen. His head singing "Is there anybody out there?" didn't really help the situation, even though he was wondering the same thing.

A sharp ringing noise interrupted his train of thought. His phone alarm was enough of an adrenaline rush to snap him out of his exhaustion, just for a moment. He pressed down on the black button, the one which sent out a communication signal to almost everyone in the area. "This is Woodford of ship S647A from the Galaxy Garrison. Our pilot is injured and we're low on fuel."

Silence.

"Does anybody copy?" he asked, hoping for a yes, or at least static, or any sign of anyone else, but he knew he wouldn't be that lucky.

Silence. He was right. He kept his finger on the black button for about a minute longer, just out of sheer hope, but nothing happened, so he collapsed back in his seat. Adam was tempted to get up and get a coffee, or at least something, but the gravity was off now and he couldn't leave in case a call came through, and he was the only one still awake. On Earth it was three in the morning right now.

He was just about to slip into sleep until a voice came though, "Hello?" a voice asked, a girl, judging by the sound of it, "This is Brown, working at one of the PIOSO's secondary stations, can you repeat your name?" PIOSO was the Pacific Islands-Oceanic Space Organization. Adam didn't know that much about it, aside from the fact that it was located along the Pacific, and unlike the Garrison, it wasn't fully international.

"Adam Woodford. I work for the Galaxy Garrison. Our pilot is injured and we need fuel," he stated, trying to sound more awake.

"Do you need a place to dock?" she asked, "Where is your location?"

"Yes, please," Adam said, and read off coordinates from a screen on the dashboard. Knowing that there was someone else here caused relief pour down on him like rain in a desert. He wasn't alone, they were going to be okay.

"How many crew members do you have, including yourself? We're near our maximum capacity," she asked.

"Five," Adam responded. How near was near? Adam worried that she wouldn't be able to take them, and they'd still be stuck out in space. Would they at least give them fuel?

"We can manage five people, but only for a little while," she responded. She sent him her coordinates, and he signed off, feeling more relief than he's had in a while. They were going to be safe. Adam set the coordinates and started flying to the new station, with newfound energy because he knew they were going to be okay.

Hours passed. Adam flew straight ahead, and eventually found the PIOSO's station. Brown, who Adam later learned that her first name was Emma, had offered to start helping him give supplies and medical treatment, but Adam declined. Everyone was still asleep then, and Adam didn't want to wake them up. She introduced him to some of the other crew members. A guy from one of the Pacific islands—was it Samoa?—said that their nephew was trying to get into the Garrison, and was really excited when Adam mentioned he was a teacher there.

They also hooked the ship up to the fuel as well, which should fill up soon, hopefully. Adam had gone back to the ship and lounged around the pilot chair, and while he tried to take a nap, couldn't sleep to save his life, so he just waited for everyone else to wake up so he could start hanging out with Shiro.

Lisette woke up first. She walked into the room holding a coffee, "Hey, Ada-" her words trailed off as she saw the space station, "Where are we?" she asked.

Her voice interrupted his train of thoughts, which was focused around how much his head hurt. He gets headaches when staying up for too long, but fought it off for now, since Shiro was almost definitely worse off than he was. "I found a location for us to get fuel and supplies for Takashi," Adam said, "It's one of the PIOSO's stations."

She handed him a coffee, and Adam took a sip, "You're telling me you found a station and didn't wake any of us up to tell us?" she asked.

He shrugged, feeling more energized as he drank the coffee. It was bitter and still really hot, but it was the only thing he's consumed since his coffee and snack at around midnight, so it was one of the best things he's tasted. "You guys were asleep, didn't want to wake you," he dismissed.

"You were awake all night," she pointed out.

Adam looked up at her, his gaze weary and slow, and he could almost feel the dark circles around his eyes, "And?" he asked, his voice thick with a bitter sarcasm. Returning to normal, he continued, "Anyway, I'll wait until everyone else is awake before we get onto the station, and then we'll—" he yawned, cutting himself off.

"Huh?"

"We'll get the rest of the fuel and supplies for Takashi, and we'll be on the road again," he answered.

The door opened behind them, and Skylar and Elizabeth walked out, "Mornin' 'Sett, Mornin' Adam. You look like shit, by the way," Skylar stated. They were a good crewmate, sure, but they had no verbal filter whatsoever. They weren't wrong, though.

"Feel like it," he responded, and took a sip of coffee. All hail the mighty bean juice that shall revive my soul, one extremely sleep deprived part of his brain thought. Maybe he has been up for too long.

"Anyway, Shiro's still in bed, his concussion still hurts, and he wants to see you," Elizabeth said. "Take a break for once, you've been awake since he got hurt. We're not going anywhere," she told him.

Adam nodded, and stood up to walk off, swaying a little as he walked, almost like he was drunk. He realigned himself and tried to walk like a normal human, but he traced his fingers up against the wall, partially for balance and partially just because. Adam opened the door to Shiro's room. "Hey, Takashi," he whispered, closing the door almost immediately to not let any light in.

"You found a place to get us fuel?" he asked, "I overheard Lisette talking, she isn't the quietest."

Adam nodded, and clarified, "Yeah, and also some medicine for you. How's your concussion?" he asked, hoping to hear good news. He knew it wouldn't disappear overnight, but no harm in asking. "And your arm?"

"Still throbbing like crazy, and still broken," he responded, in a surprisingly casual attitude.

"Anyway, when you feel up to it, we're going to go grab you some medicine and a cast," he told Shiro. Adam yawned, and asked, "Is it okay if I sleep up there?" he asked, pointing to the bunk above Shiro.

Shiro scooted over, making room on the tiny twin-sized bed, "Just sleep here, I've missed you," he answered. He pulled the blankets up with his good arm, and patted the bed. Adam shrugged and gave in, and crawled right next to Shiro, giving him a kiss on the forehead before drifting off into sleep nearly a second later. Maybe he just couldn't sleep earlier because he wasn't here, next to someone he loved.

~~~

Adam and Shiro took a step off the platform and into the sunlight, Shiro's hand wrapped in a white cast. The stay at the PIOSO station wasn't that long, but it was longer than either of them had wanted, almost a whole day off their life as they had restocked and gotten Shiro treatment. His concussion was mainly gone, and while he wasn't the one to fly the ship home, he was still there to hang out with Adam while he did.

And finally, almost a week longer than it should have taken, Adam and Shiro were back on Earth. Back home, under the blue sky that he always forgets is so blue. As magical as the stars were, the blue clear skies were always home.

"You good?" Adam asked as Shiro stumbled slightly, holding onto his shoulder instinctively to steady him. Shiro's legs may not be broken, but he doubted that they were completely perfect after his fall.

He nodded, "It's just my arm, I can walk," he confirmed, but Adam kept his hand on his shoulder. "I can't wait to see Keith again," he mused, and looked down at the crowd, like he was trying to find him.

Adam smiled, "It's just not the same, talking face to face. You think he's made a friend yet?" he asked, as they stepped into the elevator, where the other three crew members were already waiting. It was dimly lit, but filled to the brim in excitement, everyone anxious to see their friends and family. Adam knew he was excited to see his.

Shiro huffed in amusement at Adam's comment, which pretty much spoke for itself, "Do you want me to be optimistic Shiro or realistic Shiro?" he asked, jokingly.

"I'll always take the optimist."

"Then he's befriended everyone he knows," he responded, and smiled at the idea. Adam smiled along, because even if it wasn't true, he still wanted Keith to have a friend of some sort.

The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened, flooding light into the small room. Shiro turned to Skylar, Lisette, and Elizabeth, "Thanks for flying with us, we couldn't have done it without you." There was a kind smile on his face as he said farewell.

Adam nodded in agreement, "Sorry that we're, you know, a week late," he told his former crew members, lightening the mood just enough to make the goodbye on the sweeter side of bittersweet.

Skylar smiled, and fixed their blue hair absentmindedly, "Hey, it's all cool. Glad that you two were here to pilot, even though you broke your arm and you pretty much didn't sleep all of last week," he said, poking fun at Adam, who did end up staying up late almost the whole trip back to get them home sooner.

Elizabeth looked at Skylar, "Hey, Shiro couldn't help it. But I do agree with them, Adam, you need to just go home and sleep for a month," she told him.

He chuckled slightly, "Honestly, I'll take you up on that offer." 

Lisette smiled, "Hey, this isn't goodbye forever, right? We could all hang out sometime, I know this new bar in Mosquero," she mentioned.

The group nodded. Usually when someone said, "Let's hang out sometime," it was just a courtesy, but Adam could tell she meant it. "How about sometime later this week?" he asked, which was received with nods and hums of agreement.

The five walked out, all going their seperate ways. Skylar walked off towards someone with bright pink hair—their datemate, who they've been missing all week. Elizabeth and Lisette walked towards Elizabeth's mother and siblings, (who were Lisette's aunt and cousins), who traveled from LA to see them get off of their first mission. 

While everyone else reunited, Adam and Shiro scanned the crowd, searching for a specific black-haired kid. They would end up going home and having a horror movie night, where Keith would yell at the characters for being stupid, and Adam and Shiro were almost guaranteed to pass out on the couch together, popcorn spilled and blankets and pillows littering the floor. While traveling the universe and seeing the stars was nice, sometimes it was good to just be home.


	21. XXI- Taylor? Who the hell is Taylor?

****October came and went, like almost every other October on the face of the earth. Keith fell into a cycle back when he lived at the adoption center, every year around October, after he had given up and acknowledged that the rest of the year was going to suck, all his days were the same. Resent every moment of being awake from the moment his alarm went off, go to school and hurry to finish the rest of his homework, avoid as many people as possible for the next seven hours, go back to the center and find whatever entertainment he could for the rest of the day, eventually collapse from exhaustion around midnight to one.

He was used to the cycle, but Shiro and Adam seemed determined to break it for him, despite not knowing it even existed. "Hey, Keith, have you made any friends yet?" was a common question, usually during dinner or when he first came home. He used to respond with "No," but exchanged the denial for a facial expression which he hoped read as " _take a wild guess."_

Besides the friend thing, they were always having other people over, sometimes Samantha and Jackson, (Keith knew them pretty well, he ditched class to hang out with them a couple of times while Shiro and Adam were gone,) and sometimes the people who went on the mission with Shiro and Adam, Elizabeth, Lisette, and Skylar. But the strange thing is they always included Keith, which was strange, because who would even want to babysit a fourteen year old kid while spending time with friends?

Fifteen. Keith was fifteen now. It's his birthday, well, the date he's pretty sure is his birthday. October 23. Glancing at his alarm clock, he wondered to himself if he should stop mentally monologuing his life and actually get up to go to school. Either way, his roommate James (who's an asshole) would wake him up soon enough.

"Keith! Wake up!" a familiar voice yelled, and Keith didn't even bother to contain his groan. His asshole roommate was awake. He missed not having a roommate, until he got stuck with James Griffin after he punched the bastard in the face. James deserved it though. "Or are you going to stay home like a lazy bitch?"

"Shut the fuck up, I'm getting up," Keith yelled back, and threw his sheets off his face and onto the floor, secretly hoping they'd hit James. Yeah, he's definitely going to try to talk Shiro and Adam into letting him stay in their apartment as a birthday gift. He grabbed the uniform on the end of his bed and started getting dressed.

"Oh look, the emo kid's alive," he commented slyly.

Keith ignored him, grabbed his bag, and started walking fast to the breakfast hall. He passed by the large glass windows looking in, and it was packed. It smelled good, probably waffle day, which would be why it was so busy.

Keith took one last look at it. As hungry as he'd be without breakfast, the breakfast room was too crowded.  _I'll just ditch Math and grab something from Shiro and Adam's apartment. Nobody'll notice,_ he told himself. He had his stuff with him, so he might as well just get to class and maybe he'll have enough time to halfway finish the homework, which, well, was due that class. 

The hallways weren't that crowded, surprisingly. There were a couple people here and there, a guy looking at his phone, and a group of older cadets talking among themselves. 

One group in particular caught his eye, one lanky kid with copper skin and brown hair, and another heavier-set kid with dark skin and black hair. The skinnier one was kind of attractive, honestly, with freckles splattered on his face and dark blue eyes. Keith could have sworn he's seen that kid before.

He heard a glimpse of their conversation, just enough to get a name "-call me...Taylor cause of-" and then the duo were to far away for Keith to hear anyone else.

_Taylor? Who the hell is Taylor?_

**~~~**

Keith did not find out who Taylor was that day. He saw Taylor again in flight class, but Taylor didn't approach him or anything. Why was he so concerned about this Taylor kid anyway?

He did successfully sneak into Shiro and Adam's apartment for cereal though, so at least one thing went right today. Both of them were out, so Keith was able to grab himself cereal and even briefly snooped around on their computer. Nothing of interest, but apparently one of them had been researching plane from New York to here.

When returning to the apartment for the proper time that day, Keith was surprised to see that everything was dark, the curtains closed and the lights off, even though when he left the apartment earlier the lights were on and the curtains open. "Probably just saving energy," he told himself, and headed over to grab a snack, still in the dark.

He went to go open up a cupboard, when his leg hit something that usually wasn't there. "Ow," the thing that he kicked (which apparently was a human being) said.

Keith tried to not jump up, and looked down to see what was there. "Jackson?" he asked, looking at the grown man who was holding his knees against his chest, "Why are you curled up in a ball in our kitchen?"

The lights were turned on, and people started appearing out of their hiding places. Samantha came out from behind the couch, "We were trying to do a surprise party for you, but apparently that didn't work, cause someone here never gave us our cue," she said, glaring at Jackson.

"It would have been awkward!" he complained, "Keith was too close to me."

"Well, that's why you give the cue before," she pointed out, folding her arms across her chest.

"Enough," Shiro said, hushing them both mid-argument. He turned to Keith, and smiled. "Happy birthday, Keith."

Shiro was holding a red cake with white writing, saying the same words Shiro did. Adam had a couple of presents in his arms, all wrapped in red paper. On Samatha's head was a party hat, like the ones he's only ever seen in movies and the time one of his classmates had a birthday on the last day of school.

Keith froze, partially in shock. He didn't how to react at first, he was split between shock and a strange feeling of belonging, like the warmth of the candles in his chest. The only thing he could ask is "What?"

Adam smiled, "In my family, we always threw each other surprise parties, so much so they weren't even a surprise," he said, with a little chuckle, "We wanted you to have the same experience."

"Since you don't really have friends yet, I figured that we'd just have the four of us," Shiro decided. Keith found humor in the yet, like Shiro was still optimistic.

Keith gave a polite nod, and tried to keep straight faced, but couldn't fight the smile. "You," he started, "Guys, you didn't have to do this." He looked around at the room, which had bowls of snacks stacked on tables, some movies on the coffee table, a couple extra presents on the table, one in red and the other in a messily wrapped blue. He assumed Jackson didn't quite get the hint that his favorite color was red.

Shiro shrugged, "We wanted to." He set the cake on the island, and wrapped Keith into a hug. Keith didn't budge, and relaxed just a little. Adam walked over and awkwardly hugged Shiro's and Keith's side, and the three had a mini-group hug, in which Jackson joined, and Samantha shrugged and did the same.

The hug broke apart, and Keith would admit it, he didn't really want to fight the grin off his face.

"Do you want to open presents or have cake first?" Adam asked.

Keith shrugged, he didn't really care, admittedly. Glancing around, he saw everyone else not having a preference either. "Well, I'm not hungry, so let's just do presents," he decided, and sat down on the corner of the island, nudging a bowl of pretzels aside.

Shiro nudged Adam and whispered something, to which Adam responded with, "Hey, I'm getting better at sitting on the actual stools." Sometimes Keith could only imagine the context of some of the things Adam says.

Adam handed Keith a present, to which Keith opened and saw a CD. The letters on it were eroded, but there were lists of songs on the back, with some names and symbols that Keith recognized. "I know you like music, so I got some albums from bands you liked and kinda guessed the rest of them," he said, smiling a little, like he was anxiously waiting for Keith's answer.

Keith smiled in return, "Thanks, Adam," he said, and nodded respectfully.

Shiro handed him another present, and Keith smiled, opening it slowly, to try and ease the part of him which was reminding him to not seem too greedy.

Inside was a phone, just like the ones that Adam and Shiro had. The Garrison-approved models, with the orange glass screen, verses Keith's outdated solid phone screen. He'd always been too broke to get any other model, so he used one which was basically an artifact at this point.

"Wow, thanks, Shiro," Keith said, holding it in his hand.

"No problem, I figured you could use an upgrade, and it's Garrison approved, so you won't be getting in trouble for that anymore," he said, nodding to the time that one particularly strict teacher gave him shit for having an old phone.

Samantha's gift was next. Keith opened the present, and looked at the black headphones. This was either a nod towards Keith's love of music, or a way to get Keith to stop blasting music at home, since his earbuds were only half-working.

Keith looked around for Samantha, and saw her stealing a bit of the icing off of Keith's cake. "What?" she asked.

Finally, what Keith only assumed was Jackson's present. He took the poorly wrapped blue present, and opened it. Upon first sight, it was a pile of red fabric. He lifted it up to observe it more closely.

It looked like a jacket, one with a red torso and white sleeves and a white collar, plus an additional yellow stripe. The sleeves came down a little long, but could probably be rolled up. 

"Saw it at the store, reminded me of you," Jackson said, "Plus, Adam said the sleeve on your jacket's starting to fall off." Keith looked at the hole between the sleeve and cuff on his jacket, which was now big enough to fit his hand. Maybe he's got a point.

The jacket was a nice jacket, it looked a couple sizes too big, but it was pretty cool. He was never that fashionable, but it looked pretty badass, "Thanks," he said, and rolled it into a ball for him to hold onto easier.

"Who wants cake?" Shiro asked?

Ten minutes of cake being handed out later, Keith was still eating it. It wasn't that the cake was bad, it was chocolate, he was just distracted.

That kid, Taylor, was well, kind of neat. Keith's definitely seen him before, on second thought. He was trying to be a cargo pilot, right? Yeah, that was it. Maybe Keith should pay more attention to his classmates. Or specifically, that one classmate, with his freckles and beautiful eyes and-

"You thinkin about someone?" Samantha asked, looking at Keith.

"No?" Keith said, looking back at her confused. He wasn't thinking about anyone, really, just that one kid from the hallway who he never even had a conversation with.

"You sure? You're blushing big time over there," she pointed out, gesturing at his cheeks with her fork.

Keith hadn't even noticed the heat on his face, which made it even worse. "Shut up!" he complained.

This translated to he was thinking about someone — _which he was not—_  so Samantha did what she did best: embarrass people. "Oooh, Keithy's got a crush!" she yelled, in the same tone as how everyone choursed when he got called up to the main office, " _Ooh, you're in trouble!"_ in thirty mocking teenaged voices.

"I do not!" he said a little louder than he meant.  _You're only adding fuel to the fire,_ a voice in his head chorused.

"He totally does," Jackson said to Shiro and Adam, through a mouthful of cake.

"Hey, Samantha was the same way with me when I liked Adam. You just gotta—" Shiro started, before being abruptly interrupted by Keith's cries of protest.

"I do  _not_  have a crush!"

 


	22. XXII- Cold Fluffy Mornings! Featuring: One Grossed Out Keith

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CHEESE WARNING: this chapter is extremely fluffy. Read at your own risk

Shiro woke up to an empty bed, the sheets on Adam's side all crumpled up in a ball, except for the fuzzy blanket, which wasn't anywhere in sight. Judging by how cold it was, Adam stole it, and Shiro didn't blame him. It was extremely cold for the desert, and while that is to be expected in November, it was still too cold.

He rolled out of bed, and picking up a bright orange sweatshirt (the one with the Garrison logo on it) with his non-broken arm, slipped it over his head. His arm had healed mostly, but for now, it was still in a cast. Judging by the fact the sweatshirt was too tall for him, giving him sleeve-mittens, it was probably Adam's, now thinking about it, but it didn't really matter.

He walked out into the living room to see Adam sitting on a barstool (that was a first, he always sat on the countertop itself) talking to Keith, who was the one on the countertop, both drinking something from steaming mugs. Adam had a blanket around his shoulders, which draped to the ground like a cape. Seems like he wasn't the only one who thought it was cold.

"Hey, Takashi," Adam said, giving Shiro a kiss on the cheek. Shiro smiled, and turned around to give him a kiss on the mouth instead.

Keith faked-gagged, looking away from Shiro and Adam. "Gross, guys, cut it out with all the PDA," he whined, looking up at them and looking away.

Shiro sat down next to Adam, and Adam slung his arm around Shiro's shoulder. Shiro smiled, "You know, Keith, you'll get into a relationship one day as well," he mentioned, "All these things are going to be things you're gonna do."

Keith rolled his eyes, "Ever hear of aromantic?" he asked sarcastically.

He raised an eyebrow, "You're aromantic?" Shiro asked. So maybe he didn't have a crush on anyone after all. Keith did get easily embarrassed. Adam was about to open his mouth to speak, but closed it again. Shiro continued, "Well, thank you for tell—"

"No, that's not the point," he said, a bit of a blush on his face from embarrassment. "Stop making out in front of the dude who's technically your adopted son." he complained.

"We were cuddling, not making out," Adam reminded, taking a sip of his coffee. Shiro nodded in agreement.

Keith shrugged. "Potato, potahto," he stated, crossed his legs, and looked down at his phone disinterested. Shiro saw the vague markings of a social media app on the orange glass screen, and wondered what he was doing. He stood up taller to get a better look, seeing a couple photos of different guys. It wasn't his business to snoop, sure, but forgive him for being interested in—as Keith said—"technically his adopted son's" life.

"Why is it so cold?" Keith asked, turning his phone off and placing it face-down on the countertop, "It never even got this bad at the adoption center, and it's only November."

Shiro didn't know, so thankfully, Adam intervened, "The heating and cooling systems both broke, so instead of making it warmer, it's even colder. They're going to get it fixed later today, at least according to the Garrison announcements. For now we just have to suffer," he said, "And here I thought I was immune to the cold, after growing up in New York."

Shiro shrugged, "Well, you have been here for a little over a year," he pointed out. He was the same way when he first moved from Japan—the first summer was hot as hell, but he adapted soon enough, and now every trip into space is like visiting the Arctic.

Adam chuckled, "Yeah, I forget I've been here that long sometimes," he mused, looking around the living room and kitchen which have only changed slightly since Adam moved in, but it felt like home now, between the CD cases in the bookshelf, the warm blankets and colorful pillows scattered on the couch, and the board of polaroid photos, each with a pushpin and a date, some from this summer, some as recently as last month, when Keith had his fifteenth birthday mini-party.

"I still have the shirt you spilled your coffee on," Shiro pointed out, thinking of their less than fortunate first meeting when Adam ran straight into him, spilling what was basically the entire contents of a cup of iced coffee on him.

Adam looked at him for a moment, processing the information. He started laughing, a small blush across his cheeks, "I thought you got the stain out!" he said between laughter, looking both amused and embarrassed simultaneously.

"Nope, I couldn't get the stain out, but I kept it. I'm wearing it right now," he said, pulling down the shirt from under his sweatshirt, the brown coffee stain across the front. It had faded over time, slightly, but the dark brown was still on the formerly white shirt.

Keith had obviously lost interest in their conversation, as he moved to the other side of the counter, his back facing the two of them, probably hunched over his phone.

Shiro walked over into the kitchen to make himself coffee—all the talk about said coffee was making him want some. As the coffee brewed he went to grab bowls for cereal, but hesitated and grabbed pancake mix instead.

"Let me do that," Adam insisted, grabbing the box from Shiro's hands, and grabbing a frying pan from the drawer beneath the stovetop, placing it on the stove.

If he must admit, Shiro was feeling a little betrayed. "You don't trust me?" Shiro asked as he watched Adam walk about the kitchen with his little blanket cape flowing behind him, carrying eggs and milk to whip up the pancake batter.

"No, it's not that," he insisted, "Just, as I recall, last time you made pancakes, they weren't necessarily—" Adam said, getting interrupted by Keith.

"They had eggshells in them," Keith pointed out. "Lots of eggshells."

Shiro shrugged, "I remember they were a bit crunchy," he recalled, thinking of the pancakes he made a couple weeks ago. He had shrugged it off at the time as the new brand of pancake mix being weird, but evidently, it was not.

"Cooking just isn't your forte, but I guess that's why I'm here," Adam reminded. He looked up from mixing the pancakes up and gave Shiro a kiss on the cheek, which made Shiro smile like an idiot.

"We should eat breakfast on the couch," Keith blurted out randomly.

Shiro cocked his head to the side slightly, confused, "Why? I'm not opposed, just curious." The island was good enough, so why the couch?

He shrugged, "It's fun? We can watch one of Adam's movies?" he asked, throwing out random guesses.

"That reminds me, I didn't show you guys that one movie," Adam said, pouring some of his pancake batter into the pan, "It's a bit rom-com ish for your taste, but it's winter for most of the movie, so yeah," he said.

"What's it about?" Shiro asked, curious. He leaned against the counter and listened to Adam talk.

"Well, this one college graduate has to get roommates, so he moves in with these three other music majors, and they decide one day to start a band, you know, just cause, and it doesn't fail surprisingly. The main kid then realizes he likes the other boy in it while they're on tour—" Adam rambled about the movie while Shiro watched him talk, pointing at the pancakes to remind him to flip them every so often.

He was so nice to listen to sometimes, and admittedly, Shiro was paying more attention to Adam than the movie he was explaining, the way the light from outside shone on his face and his messy morning hair, and how he was too focused on explaining the movie to adjust his crooked glasses or remember to flip the pancakes.

Adam turned the stove off and looked up at Shiro, his bronze eyes glowing from the sunlight flowing in. He could stand like this forever, honestly. If Shiro was a believer, heaven would be here, standing with a broken arm and frozen feet in a freezing apartment, the smell of pancakes and cold air, and Adam.

He was amazing in almost every single way that crossed his mind, and Shiro would be a liar if he said he wasn't head over heels in love with Adam Woodford.


	23. XXIII- Something I Need

"Hey, Adam, I have a surprise," Shiro said, sitting down on the couch next to Adam. The room was bright with mid-afternoon light, and so far all they had done all day was lay around lazily. Shiro finally got his cast off a couple weeks ago, which was a huge relief for him. Carrying two things at once has been awesome recently.

"For what?" Adam asked, looking over at Shiro. He was reading a book right now, and procrastinating on all the work he has to get done before the Garrison requires him to turn in the first semester's grades.

"I figured, since I had a meeting and you had to work late on our anniversary, I should take you somewhere nice, kinda have a belated anniversary. We didn't even really become boyfriends until a couple weeks later anyway, so, what do you think? Are you going to be too busy procrastinating?" Shiro asked, pointing to the open book.

Adam smiled, ignoring the last comment, "That sounds great, what time?" he asked, closing the book and setting it on the coffee table. He was still in a pajama shirt, since school has been on break, neither of them bother to change, except for meetings or going to the store.

"I made reservations at the Italian place in Mosquero for five," Shiro said, "The one we went to on our first date? Just for nostalgia's sake." He smiled, remembering how awkward they were at first. It felt like a lifetime ago, but was only a bit over a year.

Adam grinned widely, "Is Keith coming or just us?" he asked.

"Just you and me, love," Shiro answered, giving Adam a kiss.

Adam smiled, "Alright, I'll go get showered in a minute. Just need to finish this chapter," he said, grabbing his book and opening it again, adjusting the glasses on his nose so they didn't fall off.

Shiro smiled, and walked off to their room. Sure, they weren't going to leave for another hour or so, but he needed a while to get ready this time. He looked through his closet and grabbed a white button-down shirt and nice pants, and started running the shower in the bathroom.

While waiting for it to warm up, he thought about the meeting a couple days ago. They'd been discussing a new mission which, well, not really new, it's been in the works since the summer. Ever since a satellite had detected alien life past Pluto, everyone's been in a frantic mood to find it's source, and the closest estimate has been the moon Kerberos.

They asked Shiro to pilot the mission, and he agreed. He would be the first step to help discover aliens, he and two scientists, Matt and Sam Holt, would collect ice samples, and maybe, just maybe, help find alien life.

It was scheduled to depart on June twenty-sixth, almost six months from now. He wasn't allowed to tell Adam, not until it became finalized. The meeting yesterday only just reconfirmed him as the pilot, because if his arm didn't heal in time, they'd send someone else.

He walked over towards their dresser, and opened the bottommost drawer, his sock drawer. He grabbed the flat box, and opened it, watching as a small golden ring spun out. They were departing in six months, so if he wanted any chance to have them become Mr. and Mr. Shirogane, (or Woodford, Shiro had no preference,) he'd have to act now.

The Garrison won't allow calls back and forth unless if it's direct family who's working or attending the Garrison. Matt had asked, and had been let down to know that his younger sister wouldn't be able to call him unless she became a cadet. But Shiro didn't want to wait a whole year before seeing Adam again.

Patience yields focus, but sometimes the best things in life don't need to be overthinked.

**~~~**

"Table for two?" The waiter asked, upon seeing Adam and Shiro walk in, both dressed up nicely. Shiro kept his right hand in his back pocket, where the box was.

Shiro nodded, "Not to be a pain, but can I see if you have a specific table open? It's our anniversary and I want to see if we can sit at the table we had our first date at."

The waiter smiled, "Aww, that's really sweet. Go lead the way," she said.

They found the same table they ate at so long ago, almost nothing changed except the people around them and the awkward air being replaced with a sense of familiarity.

"I'm going to head to the bathroom real quick," Shiro said, despite knowing he wasn't going to the bathroom. He walked towards it, and tapped on the waiter's shoulders who sat them down. "I'm sorry to disturb you, but I need a small favor," he asked.

She smiled, "Sure, what is it?"

"I'm proposing to my boyfriend tonight, is it okay if you or a coworker plays a specific song when you see me get ready to propose?" he asked. It wouldn't ruin the proposal if the song didn't play, but it'd make it that much more magical.

She smiled again, "You are way more thoughtful than my ex ever was. What's it called?" she asked.

"Something I Need, it's an older one so you may not find it, but if you can that'd be great," Shiro explained. Adam's music taste had really rubbed off on him, he caught himself humming the tune of an old pop song earlier this morning. It was funny, all the things he did now he never did before he met Adam.

She nodded and smiled, "Sounds like a plan. He must be a great guy, for this to be so well thought-out."

"He is," Shiro confirmed, and went back over towards his table.

He felt a small twinge of guilt for lying, but it was no big deal, it was for something that mattered more than a small white lie. He slid into his seat, and Adam explained "A waiter came by to ask about drinks, so I just told him to bring us both whatever the daily wine special was."

Shiro nodded. "Sounds good."

They both sat in comfortable silence for a minute, not speaking, simply enjoying the other's presence. The string lights above them glowed, and Shiro thought about it would have been perfect if he could propose outside in the park, but the sun had already gone down.

"It feels like so much longer than a year, doesn't it." Adam mentioned. "Like, I'll think about when we started dating and it feels like at least three years ago, not so soon."

Shiro nodded, "Honestly, I was just thinking about that. I mean, in just one year we started dating, adopted a cat, a kid, and then went on a space mission together. Seeing as a usual year only consists of one of those, it's safe to say that this has been a pretty long journey, and honestly, I've enjoyed every second of it."

Adam nodded, "Me too."

The waited came to set down their drinks, and then took their orders. The two of them filled the gap of time with more conversation, until it was time to eat,

Shiro watched as Adam took the final bite of his pasta. He waited another minute or so, and then spoke, "Adam, I have another surprise for you." He took a breath, not even noticing how strange his voice sounded, and willed his leg to stop anxiously tapping the ground like a hyperactive child who's been sitting in the same chair for hours.

"So, I know we've only known each other for a little while, like, I met you last October. And most people would say this is rushed, and frankly, I'd agree with most people." Shiro started.  _I should have practiced this in the mirror more,_ he thought to himself. "But honestly, I know that I have a shorter lifespan than most, between space travel messing with me and my disease, there's a chance that life's going to be short."

"Takashi—" Adam started, but Shiro kept talking.

"I was listening to this song the other day, one of the one's I bought you. It went something like 'If we only die once, I want to die with you,'" he sang along to the tune, "And honestly, it stuck with me. If I had to choose one person here to be with for the rest of my life, it'd be you."

On cue, the exact song he was thinking of started playing in the background. He looked up to one of the employees, who was glancing over at Shiro and Adam, and then back at his computer, where the song was playing from.

_I had a dream the other night, about how we only get one life._

_Woke me up right after two, I stayed awake and stared at you, so I wouldn't lose my mind._

_And I had the week that came from hell, yes I know that you could tell._

_But you're like the net under the ledge, if I go flying off the edge, you'll go flying off as well._

He shuffled out of his seat, and kneeled down on the ground. He grabbed the box out of his back pocket, "Adam Woodford, you've changed my life in a million ways that I couldn't even begin to name. Will you be the person who, if we only get to die once, I'll die with you?"

Adam covered his mouth with his hands, but Shiro could still see the smile seeping through the sides, and tears were in his bronze-colored eyes. "Yes, Takashi," he said, both a whisper and a yell at the same time. Both of them were smiling like they haven't seen each other in years, and there wasn't anything in the world like the euphoria of knowing that they'd have each other forever.

_And if we only die once, I want to die with you._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song is called Something I Need by OneRepublic.


	24. XXIV- Kerberos?

Adam set another paper down in the "Has Been Graded" pile he's started growing. Only thirty quizzes in and he's memorized the letter of each answer.  _A, D, C, B, D, D, C, B, D, A, D, C, C,_ and then the written response. What stupid decision prompted him to become a teacher was still beyond him, because if he knew how much grading he'd have to do he never would have signed up.

He looked down at the green pen he was using, frowning at how dry the ink was becoming. "Hey, Takashi, could you run to the store and grab me another pen?-" he asked, looking over by the couch to see that Shiro was gone. He walked over to the old CD player and turned off the music, as if that'd help him find Shiro.

"Takashi?" Adam asked again.  _He was here a minute ago_ — Adam glanced at the clock— _well, an hour ago_.

"Probably went to go grab us something from the store, I'll just let him know," Adam said and texted Shiro that he needed more green pens, and started googling how he's supposed to make pen ink last longer or cure dried pens. Normal people would have switched to a black or blue pen, but the green pen was kind of like his thing now, he wasn't going to change his thing.

He considered starting another thing of coffee, chances are, since he also had to work out the last couple months of the spring semester plan, grade the essays from first semester he may or may not have skipped, and submit the fall semester grades to the Garrison all before January 16, he'd probably need to pull a late night or two this week. He shrugged and started the coffee machine, choosing a hot coffee. As much as he loves iced coffee, he's also been enjoying hot black coffee recently. Maybe Keith was rubbing off on him.

He twisted the ring sitting on his finger as the coffee brewed, watching as the shine from the lights glinted on the gold. One of those things he hated about winter, he always hated how harsh the lights in the Garrison felt, like hospital lights from when his brother broke his legs after attempting to jump off a two-story window. Adam still chuckled at the memory, but the hospital lights were unpleasant and made his seven-year-old self anxious.

There was a knock on the door, and Shiro walked in, "Hello?" he asked, and smiled upon seeing Adam.

"Oh, hey Takashi," Adam said, "Did you grab those pens?"

Shiro squinted in confusion. "What pens—" he asked, as he took out his phone. He looked at the message on the screen. "Oh, sorry, I didn't see it."

Adam shrugged, "No big deal, I'll just grab some myself," he started. "Give me a minute, gotta change into my uniform."

"Adam," Shiro started, and held onto Adam's wrist loosely, so Adam wouldn't leave, "I have something to tell you first," he admitted. He pulled out two of the barstools at the island, away from all of Adam's paperwork, "You should probably sit down."

Adam's mind went racing immediately. Shiro's disease got worse. The Garrison expelled Keith. The Garrison expelled Shiro, hell, a part of him thought the Garrison kicked him out, even though he's pretty certain he's done nothing wrong recently. Shiro's disease is getting so bad that he's not going to live another year.

 _Calm the fuck down,_ he told himself, and took the seat next to Shiro. "What is it?" he asked, nervousness still clawing at his chest.

"I'm being sent on another mission, this summer. It's kind of far, well, really far," he chuckled softly, "and the reason why I proposed so soon is so we would still be able to legally keep in touch. They only allow family who's attending the Garrison to contact eachother, so, if we got married, I figured we could still keep in touch."

Adam smiled. Shiro thinks of every solution sometimes. He's like some sort of hero who can always figure out how to get out of a rough situation. Shiro the Hero, that has a nice ring to it. "Where are you going?" he asked. He was guessing that it was somewhere around Jupiter, probably. They wouldn't send Shiro much further than that, as good as a pilot as he was, he was still sick.

"Kerberos."

The two of them were silent, the whole room was silent except the hum of the heater and footsteps outside.

Adam set his coffee down, the clink louder than he meant it to be. "Kerberos? That's—"

"Pluto's furthest moon?" Shiro answered for him, "Yeah."

He cocked his head to the side, confused, "What could they possibly need to send a mission out to Kerberos for?" Adam asked. There wasn't anything major about Kerberos, as far as he knew, it was simply another rocky icy moon. He may be wrong, he was an astrophysics teacher, which typically did not relate to terrain of other planets.

Shiro sighed, which made Adam realize he's probably had to explain this a million times, "Remember the satellites we sent out past Pluto a couple years back? They've been detecting signs of life in the general area of where Kerberos is, and they wanted us to collect ice samples to test them for signs of life," he explained.

He grabbed Adam's hand excitedly, "Think about it, Adam! I could help us meet aliens! We could change the world!"

For a second, his smile was big enough that it seemed flawless. The love of his life, his fiance, could be the first person to discover aliens. It was like a dream. But between his still-healing arm and his disease, plus, the fact that as of a week ago, they were now fiances, it was too much all at once.

"Do you know the risks that that could have?" Adam asked, wincing at how harsh he sounded, no yelling, but his voice almost like a hiss.

"Adam," Shiro started.

Adam looked over at him, "You already got injured on the last mission. Now you want to throw yourself in danger again?" he asked, controlling his voice a little bit.

He took a deep breath, trying to regain control before he got mad. "Takashi. I love you, and I'll always support what you want to do. But I'm not sure if such a long trip is the best idea, considering your disease. I don't want you to get worse."

Shiro looked at Adam for a long second, the hurt in his eyes hard to miss, but dipped his head respectfully, "I understand. I know you're worried about me, but this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Plus, it's only a year, I've got a bit more in me than that," he joked.

"I just need time to think it over," Adam dismissed. He took a breath, trying to clarify his thoughts.

"I'll be okay, Adam, I promise. I'm not about to leave my fiance and never come back," Shiro said, holding his hand against Adam's cheek. 

Adam smiled, leaning into it, feeling the cool metal band on his finger. "Okay." It didn't get rid of the clawing worry at his stomach. "I trust you." He trusted Shiro, but he didn't trust that he'd get home perfectly safe. "I'm going to go get those pens now."


	25. XXV: Shiro Has Lost Kitchen Privileges (For Good)

February 14, Valentine's Day. Or, more importantly, at least to Shiro, it was Adam's birthday.

Having not done much of anything for his birthday last year—Shiro only got some movies and brought Adam home a cake, he was determined to make Adam's birthday more meaningful this year. And he had a plan.

Shiro tied his apron as he overlooked all the ingredients spread across the countertop. Three bags, one with flour, one with sugar, and one with powdered sugar all sat on the countertop. Smaller boxes and bins, with cocoa powder and baking soda and other ingredients sat beside them. There was melted butter in one bowl and eggs in another, and a brand-new carton of milk.

He's Takashi Shirogane, Garrison pilot, and the first person who's going to travel past Pluto. And he can bake his boyfriend a cake. 

Keith, who was in a matching apron, watched Shiro with a bored expression on his face, "You can't possibly expect this is going to turn out well," he stated.

Shiro glanced over at Keith, "And what makes you say that?" he asked. He may not be the best cook in the world, but he had a recipe and a plan. Besides, worst-case scenario, he'll have to just remake the cake.

"I've seen you cook, before, Shiro. We'll be lucky if the Garrison doesn't burn down," he pointed out. He had no faith in Shiro.

"That's what timers are for, Keith. We've got this." Shiro grabbed the tablet on which he had the recipe displayed on, and grabbed the wooden spoon off of the counter, tossing it at Keith, "You ready?" he asked. 

Keith muttered "No," in response, but caught the spoon anyway, fumbling slightly before setting it down on the countertop.

"Okay, so for the cake, we add the flour and cocoa in a separate bowl," Shiro said, reading off the directions, one hand propping his chin up against the countertop. "And also the butter and sugar in a different one."

"Who's doing the dishes?" Keith asked, glancing over at the sink, "Cause at this rate we're going to use a million bowls and I'm not washing them all."

Shiro nodded, "Good idea, let's just use one bowl for everything," he said, grabbing the mixer on the countertop and plugging it in. He took the bag of flour and a large measuring cup, and scooped up about enough flour to match the recipe, and added it, along with the melted butter, chocolate, and sugar.

He turned around and asked Keith, "Toss me the eggs," which, by no surprise, Keith took literally. Shiro caught two of the three eggs, but the first one ended up splashing all over his apron.

"Keith—" Shiro started, in almost the exact same tone his parents used to use on him.  _Am I seriously becoming my dad?_ a small part of his brain wondered.

"Sorry, that was actually a mistake, figured you could catch all three," Keith apologized. He sounded sincere, so Shiro let him off the hook.

Shiro nodded, and set the eggs down, opening the fridge to grab another, "Do we have more eggs?" he asked, himself more than anyone. As far as he could see, there was no eggs in the fridge whatsoever.  _I'll just call Adam to bring me one on the way home,_ Shiro thought to himself, before forgetting that the cake is supposed to be a surprise, and he cannot call Adam on the way home.

"Just skip an egg, can't be that bad, right?" Keith suggested.

He nodded. Surely one less egg wouldn't make or break the recipe, people make vegan desserts all the time, which have no eggs. "I'll just add extra butter, it'll make up for it," Shiro decided, and cracked the two eggs to put in the mixer. He even put them in a separate bowl first, just to make sure there would be no eggshell, as he has made that mistake before.

He started running the mixture, and left it running as he grabbed the materials for cream cheese frosting. "Hey, Keith, pull me up that one frosting recipe," Shiro asked. He was feeling pretty confident about the icing, I mean, how badly can you mess _that_  up?

Keith nodded and grabbed the tablet, searching up a cream cheese frosting recipe.

Shiro turned back to his cake batter, which definitely looked mixed enough, but it was still missing something. He grabbed some with a spoon, just to be sure he didn't do anything stupid like use salt instead of sugar. The batter tasted good, basically how red velvet should taste, but it didn't quite look right.

"Hey, Keith, help me out real quick," Shiro said, grabbing another spoon of the brown batter, "I can't figure out what's wrong with the cake."

Keith shrugged, tasting the batter, "Seems fine to me," he said, and sat back on the countertop, "Suprised you even pulled that off."

Shiro ignored Keith's sarcasm and dumped the batter into a cake pan. The batter seemed a little more watery than normal, but that was nothing that couldn't be fixed by baking it for hotter and longer. It'd be kinda sorta terrible if Adam got salmonella for his birthday.

Shiro started adding the powdered sugar into the mixer, three cups, according to the recipe. His measuring cup was still dirty, and since he didn't want all the powdered sugar to stick to the cup, he figured he'd just guess how much was three. He turned around and looked at Keith, "Could you put some cream cheese in the microwave?" Shiro asked. Waiting for it to defrost would have taken hours, and they don't have that kind of time.

"Uhh, Shiro—" Keith started, pointing behind Shiro. 

Shiro turned around, but as quick as a snap, powdered sugar flew into his face and covered him with white powder.

"Damn it," he muttered to himself. Keeping his eyes closed so no sugar got into his eyes, he fumbled around, trying to feel where the switch to turn the mixer off. He placed one hand on the cool metal surface of the mixing bowl, and felt around for the stand and for the switch that controls the mixer. As soon as Shiro found it, he shut the mixer off and powdered sugar stopped flying everywhere.

"You good, Keith?" Shiro asked, wiping the powdered sugar off his face.

Keith snickered, "You're just smearing powdered sugar all over your face, you know."

Shiro rolled his eyes, "You weren't exactly spared either," he pointed out, looking at the white powder which now covered his hair and clothes.

Keith dusted his clothes off, which just smeared it all over his black jeans. "Fuck," he muttered.

"Hey, profanity." Shiro scolded. 

He sighed and looked around the kitchen. Powdered sugar was all over the floor and counters, eggshells littered the countertop, the entire scene was just a mess. "We should probably take a break, just so we don't mess anything else up," Shiro suggested.

Keith nodded, and plopped on the couch, getting powdered sugar all over it.

"You're cleaning that up," Shiro reminded.

He scrambled off the couch and dusted himself off.

**~~~**

"Is something burning?" Keith asked.

Shiro put down his phone and took a breath, "Hopefully it's nothing important," he stated.

Keith went back to looking at his phone.

A second later it hit them both simultaneously. Keith and Shiro shot up in unison. "The cake!" both yelled, dashing towards the kitchen.

"Pass me the gloves!" Shiro instructed as he opened the oven. Keith threw a cloth glove at him to prevent him from burning his hand. Shiro put them on and grabbed the cake out of the oven, throwing it on the stovetop.

The cake was charred and black, and smelled more like charcoal than cake. "Maybe it's fine on the inside?" he asked.

"Doubt it," Keith stated.

"Well, we still have another hour or so until Adam gets back," Shiro pointed out. "Can you go next door and ask our neighbor for three eggs? Say I'll pay him back." he asked Keith.

"Sure," Keith said. He grabbed his jacket, the one he got for his birthday, and walked out the door.

Shiro, wearing the red gloves, took the cake pan, turned it upside down, and tapped the pan to try to get the cake to come out. Three taps later, the cake was still stuck inside the pan. "Damn, did I forget cooking spray?" he asked himself as he went back to tapping the cake against the countertop.

It still wasn't coming out of the pan. Shiro smacked it against the countertop one last time. He sighed, grabbed a knife, and tried cutting it out. He at least needed the pan back.

With one final tap, the cake fell onto the countertop, the red velvet looking more brown.  _Shit, I forgot the dye, didn't I?_ Shiro thought to himself. At least they weren't using that cake.

Keith opened the door, "Here's your eggs," he said, holding three eggs as he walked inside.

Shiro nodded, and Keith set them on the countertop. Now back to work. He rolled his sleeves up and started adding all the ingredients again, this time having learned from his mistakes and using measuring cups.

When it was time to add the milk, Shiro started pouring it in the bowl. There was a knock on the door, which made Shiro jump a little. Now, that wouldn't have mattered, but it nudged Shiro's arm just enough to turn the mixer on, and plus to knock something off of the countertop. Unmixed batter started flying out of the mixing machine, flinging in all directions. It was almost kind of comical, how often he's been hit by flying food today.

And, of course, just their luck, as Shiro was desperately trying (and failing) to stop the mixer from flinging batter everywhere, the door opened, and Adam stepped inside, home almost an hour earlier than he should have been. "Hey, hun, I'm home ea— Woah!"

He watched as Adam observed the scene: the milk container leaking onto the floor, both of their hair colored white from the flour, and the first burnt cake sitting on the countertop. Shiro put on a sheepish smile, and covered the flying cake batter with his hands, "I'm sorry..?" he said, his voice perking up into a question.

"Takashi, love, what are you doing?" Adam asked. He held a hand over his mouth, muffling his laughter, "What happened here?"

"Shiro's fault," Keith said, eating more of his chocolate frosting off the spoon.  _Way to throw me under the bus_ , Shiro thought. "Told you we should've just bought one."

Shiro looked over at his sassy teenager sitting on the counter top. "Well, that wouldn't have been as romantic," he pointed out, "I wanted to make sure it was something special for Adam."

Adam looked over at Shiro, and while wearing the fondest smile on his face, said, "I love you for this."

"For making a mess?" Shiro asked, looking around the kitchen.

He chuckled softly, which meant Shiro couldn't help but smile. "No, for trying. I mean, it's the thought that counts, right?" he asked. Adam sat down and set his plastic bag down on the countertop, and pulled out a cheesecake. "But, for future notice, you're banned from the kitchen."

He figured as much, honestly, he'd ban himself from the kitchen too. Shiro took his apron off and sat down next to Adam, while Keith sat on Adam's other side. Adam cut three slices of cheesecake, and even with the ruined kitchen and flour all over himself, it still felt like one of those magical moments, like all the ones of photos on the wall.

Maybe a part of him knew he was going to miss this when he left for Kerberos.


	26. XXVI: Past The Stars

Poke. And then another, right on his arm. "Adam," a familiar voice sang, a voice belonging to one very beloved but very rude fiancé. It couldn't possibly already be morning, right? April mornings don't start that early, there should at least be the glimmer of a sunrise by now.

Adam opened his eyes to see Shiro, sitting up in bed, waiting for him to wake up. And just behind him, a blurred alarm clock reading 2:03 or 2:08, he couldn't tell which. "Takashi, love, it's two in the morning," he said groggily, rolling back over.

"I wanted to show you something," Shiro stated, getting out of bed and sitting down on the other side of Adam, so they faced each other once more.

"Could it wait until morning?" Adam asked politely.

Shiro shook his head, which was barely visible in the dark, "Not exactly," he responded, and stood back up. "Come on, I'll make you coffee," he said, and pulled the blanket off of Adam's torso, only leaving his legs covered from the cold.

Adam sighed and sat up. He figured that if Shiro woke up so early to show Adam, whatever it was, it must be important. He grabbed a hoodie and slipped on his pajama pants, he figured since Shiro was also in his pajamas that it must not be anything that he'll have to dress up for. He grabbed his glasses off the bedside table, ran his fingers through his hair to tame it one last time, and stepped outside.

Shiro handed Adam a coffee mug of steaming warm black coffee. Adam took a careful sip, but his attention was at the picnic basket on the countertop, "What's that for?" he asked after swallowing the coffee.

"You'll see," Shiro ensured. Adam was still curious, but shrugged and carried on with his coffee. Shiro started putting a hoodie on over his shirt, the coffee-stained one from when they first met.

Adam eventually finished his coffee, and definitely felt much more alive afterwards. He set it in the sink, and asked, "So what was it you wanted to show me?" he asked.

"You'll see."

Shiro turned off the lights and opened the door, carrying the picnic basket. Adam guessed that he should follow where Shiro led him, so he followed as Shiro took a winding path throughout the hallways, going up and down stairs of different buildings, rooms for Garrison officers and cadets and captains.

Eventually, they reached a ladder in the corner, or about the sixth floor, if Adam had to guess. He hadn't been keeping track. Shiro started climbing up, and Adam followed, and started wondering if this was even allowed, hell, if it was even legal.

Shiro was on a small platform in front of a door, and Adam stopped beside him. It was a small room, barely fitting them both.

"So, what was it you dragged me up here for at two in the morning?" Adam asked.

"There was a power outage, across the entirety of Mosquero County," Shiro started, "Almost all the lights went out, the alert woke me up. The Garrison was fine, but, since all the lights went out, we can see all the stars." Shiro pushed open the door.

The first thing Adam noticed was the purple sky, and the millions of stars within it. He let out a small "woah," as he stepped outside to watch the endless night sky around them. Usually the stars were visible at night, and it was a lot more than he grew up with in New York, where he'd hope to spot a helicopter and pretend it was a star. But the usual night sky of a few hundred stars or so was nothing compared to this.

The sky was purple and blue and millions of colors and it painted the entire desert dark, except for the Garrison which still glowed golden below them. It was dark, but he could still see the rocky cliffs surrounding them, the usual red turned the color of wine in the night. The galaxies above were so vast that it was worth waking up so early to see.

"Hey."

Adam turned around to face the noise. He saw Shiro, sitting on a blanket, with an empty picnic basket and two wine glasses on it, and a bottle of wine.  _He's so cliche,_ Adam thought.  _I love him for it._

He sat down next to Shiro as Shiro pulled the cork out of the wine bottle, pouring them both equal amounts of the dark red wine, "I was saving this for the night before Kerberos, but I figured why should I save it, when we can just make memories now?" he asked.

Adam smiled, and took one of the wine bottles. It smelled rich and fragrant, and tasted just as good. "How long have you been planning this for?"

Shiro shrugged, "Well, I didn't plan the power outage. My phone's alert went off saying there was a power outage around one-fifty ish, saying the outage should last a couple hours, and I got this ready real quick so we can enjoy it before the lights come back on."

Adam smiled, "You know, this is why I love you, Takashi. You're always doing some of the craziest things," he said, taking another sip. Shiro planned things, sure, but sometimes it was the spontaneous ideas he had like this that really made a difference. Adopting Keith at a second, dedicating himself to teaching Adam to fly.

Leaving to go to Kerberos.

"Why do you have to leave so soon?"

Shiro looked over at Adam, his face falling. Maybe he didn't want that question now, or ever. He looked at Adam for a long time, like he was reading every detail on his face.

"Because there's a whole universe out there, filled with information and things to learn," he pointed out. He turned towards the night sky.

Adam sighed. He knew Shiro wanted to race through the universe on the Kerberos mission, and he knew it was selfish, but he just wanted Shiro to stay home and safe and where Adam could make sure he was okay.

It was selfish, and he knew it, and every time he felt a pang of sadness he regretted it.

"I'm going to miss you, Takashi," Adam said.

Shiro looked back at Adam, and held one of his hands, "It'll only be a year, love. We'll get the wedding document signed, so we'll be married legally, and we can keep in contact. Then, we'll get properly married," he promised.

It calmed some of Adam's fears, but not nearly all of them. If Shiro got injured on the mission, it'd go wrong. If they fell out of love after being gone for so long, it'd go wrong.

He had a friend who fell out of love once, and she said it was slow and heartbreaking and miserable, and every time something would remind her of the person she loved it hurt all over again, because she just couldn't love them anymore.

He didn't want that for either of them.

He took a sip of his wine.  _They were going to be fine_ , Adam told himself. They may have been rocky recently, small fights over Kerberos peppered here and there, but it was nothing to drive them apart forever. Besides, as much as he wants to hold Shiro to his chest and never let him go, keeping him safe forever, Adam knew he couldn't stop Shiro.

Shiro would never stop trying to explore the universe, he would never stop trying to see all the stars in the sky.

"What do you think is past all those stars?" Shiro asked, looking up at the specks of white in the sky, which were seemingly endless. Even just hearing Shiro's voice again helped calm Adam, helped him breifly forget about the mission.

Adam shrugged, "More stars, probably," he decided. Well, the universe was endless, wasn't it? There probably can't be anything past the stars if they went on forever.

Shiro nodded, "Yeah, but, past all those stars. Like, at the edge of the universe," he wondered, looking up at the sky. He was so focused, staring up at the sky intently, like if he looked harder he'd know what was up there.

Adam looked away from Shiro and back up at the starry sky. He genuinely didn't know. If there even was anything past the stars, how would anyone ever find out? "I...I don't know," he concluded.

They both stayed silent, focusing on the starry sky. Millions of colors swirled above; the sky painted in shades of blue and purple and black. If Adam concentrated hard enough, he could see the Milky Way, the lighter purple illuminated against the darker surrounding sky, with millions of glowing stars in the center.

Shiro was going to be up there. In the sky full of stars, further than anyone else. He'd get to see this every night, but seeing eachother would be much more rare. They'd only get to communicate until Shiro passes Jupiter, and then Adam has nothing but hoping he's okay.

"You know, I'd travel there to find out," Shiro mentioned, "To see what's past all the stars?"

With hardly a beat of hesitation, Adam said, "I'd go with you."

Shiro looked away from the sky and turned towards Adam. "Only if you wanted, of course," he added.

He cocked his head to the side, "You'd travel all the way to the edge of the universe with me?" Shiro asked, doubting Adam's words. He had reason to, as Shiro knew that Adam still didn't believe in the Kerberos mission.

Adam nodded, "Of course. I'd want to make sure you're safe, and I'd miss you while you're gone."

They all shone so brightly, up there. Like millions of lights, illuminating a path to whatever was past the stars.

Maybe they will travel there some day.

Maybe.


	27. XXVII: How Important Am I To You?

As much as he would love it to be happy and peaceful, it hasn't been. As the Kerberos mission approached closer, more and more fights broke out bewteen the two of them, and they've both become closely acquainted to sleeping on the couch, or, during the week, in Keith's room.

It's been back and forth a lot, and they both were growing tired of the fighting. Shiro hasn't signed the marriage contract yet, which was the only thing allowing them to talk while Shiro would be gone. Maybe they weren't even going to get around to it at this point.

The door opened with a creak, which Adam was expecting to happen within the next couple of minutes. He didn't bat an eye as Shiro walked inside. The air was tense and he looked stressed, even more so than usual. Seeing him like this isn't unusual these days, but even then, he usually didn't look this bad. "Everything okay?"he asked, looking away from his laptop.

Shiro sighed, tired and disappointedly, "Iverson thinks I shouldn't be part of the mission."

Kerberos, of course. After getting the tests done last week, Adam should have been expecting something like this. He didn't bother trying to ignore the glimmer of hope in his heart, hope that Shiro would stay. He knew it was pointless and selfish to hope for that, but he didn't care anymore.

"Called in the big guns. Admiral Sanda showed up and tried to convince Sam to remove me from the crew," he continued.

Adam could hear the hurt in his voice, and knew right off the batt that he was going to fuck this up big-time. He was too tired, both of the Kerberos mission and just in general, to worry about his verbal filter anymore.

There were millions of possible answers he could have chosen from.  _You'll still be there. I'm sure it'll be fine. The mission's next week, they couldn't possibly choose a new pilot in that time._ There were tons and tons of other choices that Adam could have said to comfort Shiro, but, oh everloving eternity did Adam fuck this up. "Well, maybe he's right."

The words felt bitter in his mouth, but no more bitter than the coffee he was drinking to keep himself awake. And for some reason he kept going.

"Maybe you shouldn't go on the mission. You'll only be putting yourself at risk." Adam stood up straighter, holding his mug.

He was in so much danger on the mission, so many things could end up going wrong within a year. He could die, and there would be no way for Adam to know about it.

Adam could only see all the sleepless nights ahead when he couldn't stop thinking about it, all the days where he couldn't focus on anything after. It'd be like his fourteen year old self who lost night after night of sleep every time his mom got sick, except there'd be no way to call Shiro and see if he's okay.

"You know how important this is to me. It's worth the risk," Shiro decided firmly.

 _Travelling to Kerberos is really worth the risk of your own death?_ Adam set his mug down a little louder than he should have, and his words he asked were a little harsher than they should have been.

 _"Takashi,"_   His voice was low and steady. but he still knew that he knew all the wrong words were going to come out.  _"How important am I to you?_ "

They both stayed silent. Adam knew he fucked up, sirens yelling that he shouldn't have done that went off in his head so loud he couldn't hear anything else, but he was so sick of worrying every time Shiro left for longer than a day, so sick of worrying that anything could go wrong at any moment.

He closed his eyes, thinking of all the times Shiro left him worried sick after a training mission, of all the reckless things he's done, of the trip they took when Shiro broke his arm. "Every mission, every drill, I've been right there with you. But this is more than a mission."

He thought of when Shiro came home one fateful day, after disappearing for hours, telling him that he had a chronic, fatal disease, one where he probably wouldn't live any more than a decade longer. "This is your life at stake."

Shiro raised his voice a bit, defensively, but he still hesitated on some words, "Don't start that again, Adam. You don't need to protect me."

Maybe this was Adam protecting Shiro, but that's what Adam was good at. He wasn't the best pilot, or the most romantic, or the best teacher. But he wanted to protect people, especially the ones he loved.

"This is something I need to do for myself," Shiro continued.

Of course. That was the thing with Shiro, he was never going to stop tying to outdo himself. He's got that fire to him, the same one in Keith, the one where they'll both compete against themselves and keep being better and better.

They're the type of people who travel past the stats, and maybe Adam was just the kind who stays back at home worrying.

"There's nothing left for you to prove. You've broken every record there is to break."

And as much as he loved Shiro, he can't deal with the worry anymore.

"So, if you decide to go, don't expect me to be here when you get back."

They both stayed silent. Adam could hear his heartbeat against his chest, and thought of how sickening each beat felt. He's being selfish. He's being cruel. He should have supported Shiro. He shouldn't have said that.

Adam stood up, grabbing his bag, "I've got a class to teach," and he walked out of the room.

He didn't have a class now. His next class wasn't for two hours. He just needed to be alone, because he's already fucked up enough today.

As he walked through the all too familiar hallways, his heart ached like hell. All the memories rushed back like a tidal wave, the long walks through the hallways and the coming home after late nights at work and the sneaking out to watch the stars at two in the morning.

And Adam just left it all behind. They broke up, they're done, it's final.

He hung his head low, looking at the ring on his finger. He still heard the song that was playing when Shiro proposed.  _If we only die once, I want to die with you._

If Shiro was willing to die with him why wouldn't he live with him?

He shoved his hands back into his pocket, let his head collapse against the teacher's desk, and in a weary state too tired, too pissed, and too sad to care if anyone saw him, took off his glasses and felt a tear roll down his cheek as he put his head down.

He lost it all, and it's all his fault. Shiro was going to go on the mission anyway. Maybe if he kept his mouth closed they'd still get married when Shiro got back.

But Adam was also sick and tired of waiting and worrying. He just wanted to feel like Shiro was okay for once.

Adam took the ring out of his pocket, and watched it, looking at the bright light on the gold.

"Takashi," he whispered. Any apology he made was in vain and while it should have been face to face, he just needed the isolation for now. "I'm sorry."


	28. XXVIII: June 26, 2116.

Shiro looked at the calendar on the wall, like he didn't already have the date engraved into his head, like he didn't know that the date after was circled violently in red marker, and like he didn't already know that there was a similar date in a different calendar, exactly ten and a half months after that one.

Kerberos was tomorrow, and he still hasn't packed a single thing to bring with him there. His suitcase was empty and while, he knew, that at 11 at night, he should be packing, but he didn't. Instead, he just sat on the bed and watched the deep blue sky, how it was slowly turning darker, and how Adam used to call this time the blue hour.

_Adam..._

He hasn't heard from Adam since the fight, six days ago. He had just waiting until Adam contacted him first, because, chances are, Adam wouldn't want to talk to him. At least, that's what he tells himself. But either way, unless Adam shows up between then and when he left in about twenty three hours from now, he was serious about it.

_Don't expect me to be here when you get back._

The words still rang in his head, clear as day. Maybe he was being selfish, but so was Adam, so he can't blame himself entirely. He knew Adam was worried, but Shiro was still a grown man, even if he was one with a chronic disease. Plus, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, he can't just pass it up.

There was a knock on the bedroom door, and Shiro perked up, "A-"

Keith walked in. "Hey, just so you know, this was taped to the front door," He handed him a piece of printer paper folded in half, a small piece of tape keeping it closed. Takashi was written on the front, in a very familiar handwriting which was in a very specific shade of green pen.

A rush of hope filled his soul, followed by disappointment. They were through, and Adam made that final, no matter how much it crushed his soul. Shiro carefully peeled the tape off of the letter, trying his hardest not to rip the paper.

_"Takashi..._

_I'm sorry._

_I'm so sorry for what I said. I was angry and tired and pissed, and it's no excuse. I was being selfish, and I can admit that. I put my worries and fears above your dreams and labeled it as trying to protect you. While I still don't think Kerberos is a good idea, I shouldn't have said it how I did._

_I know I'm not going to stop you from leaving, like I said. If you're going to leave, leave. But if and when you make it home safely, we'll talk._ _We won't have any contact, since we never did get that contract signed, and I know it'll be hard for me, but maybe it's for the best. We've been arguing so much the past couple of months that maybe we need this break._

_I'll take care of Keith and keep him safe, I promise. He won't get into any trouble, and maybe I'll convince him to make a couple friends. Wishful thinking, I know, but maybe. He's going to miss you a lot, you know._

_Even if we decide that this wasn't going to work out, and we do split, I still wish to stay friends. I hope that doesn't happen, the splitting part, because despite what I said, I still love you, Takashi._ _  
_

_When you come back, tell me what was past the stars._

_\- Adam"_

Shiro folded the letter closed, and looked straight ahead at the wall. Adam was sorry. He apologized for what he said. And most of all, he still loved Shiro, and he would wait for Shiro. He couldn't fight the smile off his face. All wasn't lost for them.

"So, are you going to talk to him?" Keith asked. He had been looking over Shiro's shoulder the whole time, apparently.

Shiro shrugged, "There's not much time. I still need to pack, and I'm probably going to be in meetings tomorrow from six in the morning until I leave," he pointed out. The day before missions were always hard, with meetings and lectures and reviews like he hasn't had millions of them before.

Keith shrugged, "You could at least leave the guy a note," he pointed out, "I'll go give it to him before you leave, or you can just leave it here or something."

"You know where he's staying?" Shiro asked. He hasn't seen Adam at all since the fight, almost like he had disappeared off the face of the earth, if it weren't for the office gossip still talking about the two of them.

Keith nodded, "Depending on the day, either Jackson's place or Skylar's place. Think today he's staying with Jackson," he said casually, like no big deal, but Adam's been sleeping on people's couches every night. Meanwhile, Shiro's just been lounging across a queen sized bed for himself. Sure, the large bed was lonely, but it was probably worse for him. This was supposed to be their apartment, not just Shiro's apartment.

"Anyway, you should get packing," Keith stated, sitting up. "Glad that you two sort-of figured things out."

Shiro wouldn't consider one note from Adam to be figuring things out, but it was certainly a step in the right direction. "Yeah," he said. He folded the note small enough to fit into his pocket, stood up, and started working on packing. 

"And Keith," he started, looking up at his adopted brother. It was too weird to think of Keith as his son, adopted or otherwise.

Keith turned around, looking at Shiro, making a small hum of question.

"I'll miss you, bud," he said.

He smiled, and nodded at Shiro. Almost out of the doorframe, he stated, "Yeah, me too," and closed the bedroom door.

**~~~**

The next morning, he woke up at five. Well, was waking up the right term when it feels like he got no sleep at all? 

Shiro crawled out of bed, checked his bags to make sure he didn't forget anything, got dressed, the usual morning routine. He started up the coffee maker. It was a random memory, but Shiro smiled to himself at the thought, as he remembered when Adam didn't know how to use the coffee machine for the first two months, back before they even started dating. It was so long ago.

He left his coffee brewing, and walked over to look at the tackbord full of polaroid photos, ones that Adam had been collecting ever since he got him that camera from the shop in Mosquero so long ago. Photos of Kitty, of him and Adam doing stupid things together, of the fair and of hoverbike races and of formal date nights where they both wore Garrison uniforms to eat out because, hey, it was a good discount.

He smiled weakly. All the photos looked so frozen in time, like everyone was a memory locked away in paper. It was nostalgic.

One photo in particular always stood out to him. It was one of Shiro and Adam in their flight suits, hanging out on the Garrison base, Adam's arm slung around Shiro's shoulder in a peace sign. It was taken a couple days before the space mission where Shiro broke his arm, and every time he saw it, he still can hear Adam's laughter at the lame joke Jackson made, and the confusion when Adam had to teach Jackson and Samantha how to use the polaroid camera because neither of them ever learned.

The photo had been framed on their countertop, but this one, with  _August 10, 2115_  scrawled on it, was the original copy. He unpinned the tack from it, and took the photo off. Just a keepsake, for when he went to Kerberos. He'd put it back as soon as he got home, of course.

Shiro added a note to where the photo once was pinned, written in rushed black handwriting, and turned around to leave.  _"I love you, Adam. I'll see you soon. Go, be great,"_ and the date,  _June 26, 2116._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for all the recent chapters being so short. I'm writing quicker so I can finish this fic before summer break


	29. XXIX: Five Months And Eleven Days

****Five months and eleven days.

Takashi Shirogane has been gone for five months and eleven days, and would not be back for five months and seventeen days more. Adam knows this by heart, like a mental calculator, he'll be able to tell you the exact date that Shiro would be coming home. May 15.

After Shiro left, he was fortunate to send one email to him, but that was all the Garrison allowed. It was mainly another apology letter, along with things such as talking about how he and Keith are doing, and just how life in general is going. It's been quiet since he left, lonely, too. And he still has those nights where he keeps thinking that if he falls asleep for as much of a second he'll wake up and someone will send a message saying that Shiro was injured, or worse.

Maybe he needs to lay back on the coffee.

"Keith, I know you hate your roommate, but I'm not legally allowed to let you sleep here," Adam said through Keith's door, hoping that Keith heard him.

Keith's been distant since Shiro left, especially since August, when school started again. There were still days when he and Adam talked a lot more, (it turns out he actually has a crush on a kid named Taylor in his class, how cute—) but he's been so far away recently, the two of them trying to connect felt more discouraging than encouraging.

Keith yelled back, in a mocking tone, "You're not my dad!" It sounded like one of their Vines, one of the few topics they still can bond over, but Adam ignored the reference.

"I'm your legal guardian Keith, go stay in your dorm for one night and I'll let you stay here tomorrow night. You only have one more week of this until winter break," Adam lectured. He glanced at the alarm clock, reading 8:47. "Besides, it's almost your curfew."

Keith groaned, "Shiro would let me stay," he pointed out.

Adam sighed. Keith was being a little shit, but he was too busy trying to grade tests that he didn't care. "Fine, stay." he said. He knew they were both going to get into trouble, and Keith sounded like he seriously did not want to leave. Adam didn't blame him, given the choice between him, who was going to sit here and grade paper all night, or a roommate as annoying as Keith claims he is, Adam would pick the former too.

Adam left Keith alone, and his focus shifted over towards the tackboard randomly, and the note Shiro left before he went away. Adam read that note and cried from relief. It may have been extremely short, but it was comforting. And while it was sad to see his favorite photo go, Adam knew that if Sh— no,  _when_  Shiro came back, he'd bring it home with him.

He sighed, and went back to work to avoid too much nostalgia at once. Too much nostalgia at once usually means a long night with no sleep nor productivity.

After working on paperwork for a few hours, while listening to music quietly and trying not to get sidetracked, Adam looked up as Keith walked into the living room. He sat down on the couch by him. 

He looked tired, and while he should be asleep, he knew that Keith was a night owl through and through, and telling him to sleep was pointless. He rarely even considered sleeping before 11, so seeing him awake wasn't unusual. In all fairness, Adam was awake too.

For the first time in a while, Keith spoke first, "You know how long it's been?" he asked, a little out of the blue. 

Adam already knew what he meant, how long it's been since Shiro left. "Five months, eleven days," he answered almost immediately. He looked down at his phone, which read December 8 instead of December 7, "Twelve days."

Keith nodded, and walked up towards the kitchen. Judging by the fact he didn't eat dinner, it was probably to get a snack. On his way to the cabinet, he froze. "You still want that coffee over here?" he asked, looking at the gray and orange mug.

Adam nodded, "Yeah."

Keith put the coffee which had gone cold back into the microwave for a second, and made himself a bowl of cereal. He was still silent, and looked deep in thought, like he did whenever he thought about Shiro.

"I miss him too, Keith."

Keith looked taken aback for a moment, but nodded. "Here's your coffee," and with his bowl of cereal, walked back into his room.

**~~~**

A couple hours later, after he got another large chunk of tests graded, Adam was working on tidying up the room. The lights were turned off to save energy, and so he didn't forget to turn them off again when he went to bed. He was working on putting coffee away, heading past the living room.

The TV sputtered to life out of the blue, making Adam nearly jump. The Garrison logo played on the screen, followed by a woman's voice. "Breaking News!"  _Probably just another flight being delayed, or a cadet gone missing,_ Adam thought to himself. It was a shame, really, but it was common for the Galaxy Garrison to label something that wasn't an emergency as breaking news.

For just a second, the screen caught his eyes.

His mug slipped from his hands.

He didn't catch it.

A shatter as coffee spilled across the floor.

Coffee soaked into his socks.

Porcelain mug pieces hit his legs.

Adam hardly noticed.

"The Kerberos Mission has failed due to pilot error."

Mission failed.

Pilot error.

Pilot error.

Pilot error.

_Takashi-_

"Pilot Takashi Shirogane, and assistants Matthew Holt and Samuel Holt are considered deceased as of this moment."

And he broke, like the coffee mug, into pieces on the floor.

And Adam couldn't see through the tears.

And Takashi would never be able to cry again.

And the coffee and the tears kept flowing onto the floor.

And Adam Woodford was broken.

And Takashi Shirogane was dead.


	30. XXX/Epilogue: I Never Got To See What Was Past The Stars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I drew the scene from chapter 26 on the roof. (shameless self-promo: if you're interested to see other art, my art account is @newlineblue_art on Instagram)
> 
> Song I've been playing on repeat while writing these last few chapters:  
> https://youtu.be/n6BwAWiHcSg

 

       

**~~~**

Shiro knocked on the door softly, and opened his room. It looked almost the same as the day he left, but something felt empty and soulless about it, as if it hasn't been used in a year or so. There was a cold coffee sitting on the countertop, and Shiro wondered just how old it was.

"Hey, Adam? You home?" he asked, doubting he'd get an answer. Adam was probably working, he'd guess. But some sort of unease ate away at his stomach.

He walked over towards the wall of photos that Adam kept, all the polaroids having a thin layer of dust sitting on him. He felt a small pang of guilt, the photo of him and Adam he had taken with him to Kerberos had been left on the ship, probably floating out in space somewhere. The note he left in his place was still standing.

His ring was gone too, he lost it while held captive. They stripped everyone of all personal belongings, and while he tried, Shiro wasn't sneaky enough to hide the ring in his fist. It was scraped and burned right in front of him.

Shiro shook his head.  _Don't think of then. Don't think of then,_ he reminded himself. Those memories were the last thing he needed right now.

Looking back at the photos, Shiro noticed he was so much younger in all the photos, it felt like an eternity ago. His hair was still black, never having faded from stress and quintessence, he never had the scar running across the bridge of his nose, or any of the other scars he had, and he still had both of his arms, (aside from the couple of photos where he was in his arm cast.)

He noticed another photo was missing, a photo that was of himself and Keith. He remembered that photo specifically, it was in the top right corner, and it was one of Adam's favorites. Shiro guessed he probably put it in his office.

"Officer Shirogane," Iverson said, looking in the doorway, distracting him from the wall of photos.

Shiro looked up from the photos, "Yes?" he asked. "Also, where is Adam? I figured he'd be there when everyone came home."

He looked down at the ground, almost regretfully, "I need to show you something," he said dejectedly.

Shiro dipped his head respectfully, and followed Iverson as they walked through the hallway. It was a quiet walk, and it gave Shiro time to think, mainly him wondering why Iverson sounded so upset, and why their apartment felt so empty.

They approached a door frame to a dimly lit room. Inside was a large curved wall, which was at least twice as tall as him, with hundreds of plaques, each with a person and a small description of them. "These are the people who died protecting us," Iverson explained, who was watching Shiro from afar.

As much as he did wish to pay respects for the fallen, why now? They were very busy today, and had many meetings to attend to.

Unless—

Shiro's eyes almost glanced over the plaque. But the familiar dusty brown hair caught him, and he saw it.

_Adam W. A talented pilot and a kind, protective fiance._

Adam's photo. The one on his Garrison ID. The official photo, in his uniform, sitting on a plaque, surrounded by all of the other dead who protected the world from Galra.

Shiro's fingers grazed the plaque, like he was seeing if it was even real.

No. This meant—

"Adam..."

He was dead.

And all Shiro could barely even say was, "I'm sorry."

Adam was gone. The Galra took the one thing Shiro thought was always safe from them.

"It's because of them that Earth still has a chance," Iverson said, perhaps as a way to comfort him. But it didn't help. "It's time for our debriefing."

**~~~**

Shiro found himself visiting the room of plaques quite frequently. He couldn't stay at his normal dorm, because every time he walked inside all the memories of Adam came rushing back like a tidal wave, reminding him that Adam was gone forever.

For the first time, Shiro truly understood why Adam didn't want him to leave for Kerberos.

If he had known, maybe he wouldn't have left.

While leaning against the wall of plaques, Adam's plaque just above his head, he kept thinking of things he wish he did, if he could go back in time.

His and Adam's last conversation was an argument. _"If you leave, don't expect me to be here when you get back."_

And Shiro should have grown the guts to at least wish him a proper goodbye, not just a note on a tackboard. He should have talked one last time, kissed farewell at least once more, or even just a hug or a wave, instead of just procrastinating on saying goodbye cause he was too stubborn to see that it didn't matter who apologized first as long as they apologized.

Shiro was so distracted that he didn't even notice Keith's shadow over him. Keith sat down beside Shiro, staying silent. He was holding a small black journal, which blended in with his clothes.

After a minute or so of silence, Keith finally spoke. "I miss him too, Shiro."

Shiro nodded. He didn't really have much to add on, so he just stayed silent.

"Have you been back to your place yet?"

"I can't really—no," Shiro admitted. He didn't really feel like explaining that he wasn't mentally ready to go back to their room, frankly, for fear of becoming a sobbing mess. Chances are, Keith didn't want to see that.

Keith nodded, "Here," he said, handing Shiro the black journal, "Adam would have wanted you to have this." He stood up and left, leaving Shiro alone with the journal.

Shiro opened the journal. Inside were pages full of messy black pen, some places splotched, many crossed out pens, and lots of smudges, probably from Adam smudging his own work while trying to write. Whenever he wrote in black, especially in pens that weren't ballpoint, his left hand used to get stained from all the ink he used.

He thumbed through some of the entries, looking over them.

_Entry 1. March 23, 2117._

_My therapist said it would be good for me to keep a journal. I'm not sure how much it'll help, since I don't know what to write. I still miss Takashi. Keith's been extra agitated lately, and I'm not sure why. I'm nervous that without Takashi protecting him, he'll get kicked out. I'm not as credible as he is, I doubt Iverson will listen, especially in my poorer mental state._

_Some people have been saying that after this year I should stop teaching until I recover._

He didn't finish that entry, and instead, skipped about a quarter of the way through the bulky notebook. He'd have more time to read it in depth later.

_Entry 217. June 18, 2118._

_Keith is still missing, along with those other three cadets. One of them knew Keith, I think. Some people think it relates to the blue ship they saw launch through the desert the day after. Personally, I don't know what to believe anymore._

Shiro skipped ahead again, this time about two thirds of the way through.

_Entry 486. December 5, 2119._

_The Galra are still invading. We lost contact with PIOSO yesterday, and reports seem to indicate that Australia has been taken. I still haven't heard from Jackson or Skylar, but seeing as they are still deployed in Australia, my hopes aren't high._

Shiro paused for a moment, using his thumb as a bookmark. On the far left side of the wall, he looked through, bracing himself, but his hopes weren't high.

After searching for a while, he found them, right next to eachother, along with many others who were likely in Australia at the time.

_Jackson Coney. A friend to all, always a jokester._

_Skylar Lenzi. A strong, intelligent person._

He knew he should have expected it, but it still felt like a punch to the gut. He bet if he were to search for long enough, he'd find Samantha on here as well, maybe even Elizabeth and Lisette.

He's lost so many people.

Instead of trying to search, which Shiro knew would only make him feel worse, he went back to reading the journal.

The last entry in the book was number 626.

_Entry 626. May 15, 2120_

_I'm writing this entry while in the loading dock, five minutes before I take off. The Galra have invaded America, and we're the last line of the defense._

_I only just noticed that today is three years since Takashi was supposed to return from Kerberos. I still miss him, every single day, but the words from Sam give me hope. Voltron is out there, and Takashi is the leader._

_Takashi, if you're reading this, please know that I love you, and I still miss you, after all this time. You're out there saving the entire universe, I never should have doubted you._

_I know there's a chance I will die during this. If I do, then I died to try and help save Earth. Don't spend too much energy mourning for me, please. Keep doing what I did. Keep protecting the Earth from the Galra._

_But I'll try my best not to die, because I still want to hear what's past the stars._

The page next to it was blank, and all the pages afterwards. And Shiro didn't think it was because Adam got a new journal.

The page was already blotchy and stained, but now it was worse, some of the words illegible.

Adam only died three months ago. He could have seen Adam again, if he was just three months sooner.

Shiro decided to keep true to Adam's last request. On the next page, he took the pen out of his pocket, clicked it, and began to write.

_Adam,_

_I never got to find out what was truly past the stars. The closest thing I experienced was the Astral Plane, and I didn't go there to explore._

_I wish I could have found out what was past the stars. But what I wish for more is that I wish I could tell you all the things I did find. You would have liked it out there, space isn't nearly as lonely as it seems._

_But that's not important anymore._

_I miss you, I always will. And eventually, one day, in whatever afterlife we find, we'll go see what's past the stars, and we'll do it together._

_I love you, Adam Woodford._

_I always will._


End file.
